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THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
HISTORICAL AND DOCTRINAL STUDIES 



THE HEIDELBERG 
CATECHISM 

HISTORICAL AND DOCTRINAL 
STUDIES 



GEORGE W. RICHARDS 

PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY IN THE 
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE 
REFORMED CHURCH IN THE 
UNITED STATES AT 
LANCASTER, PA. 



PHILADELPHIA 

PUBLICATION AND SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD 
of the Reformed Church in the United States 



19 13 



Copyright, 1913 

The Publication and Sunday School Board of the" 
Reformed Church in the United States 



JUL 14 1914 



PRESS OF BERGER BROS., PHILADELPHIA 



©CU37666G 



THE 

SWANDER MEMORIAL LECTURES 

1911 



FOUNDATION OF THE SWANDER 
LECTURESHIP 



THE Swander Lectureship in the Theological Semi- 
nary of the Reformed Church in the United States, 
located at Lancaster, Pa., was founded by the Reverend 
John I. Swander, D.D., and his wife, Barbara Kimmell 
Swander, for the twofold purpose of promulgating sound 
christological science, and of erecting a memorial to their 
daughter, Sarah Ellen Swander, born April 30, 1862, died 
September 29, 1879; an ^ t0 their son, Nevin Ambrose 
Swander, born August 7, 1863, died March 29, 1884. It 
shall be known as the "Sarah Ellen and Nevin Ambrose 
Swander Lectureship." For its maintenance a sum of 
money was given to the Board of Trustees of the said 
Theological Seminary, the interest of which is to be ap- 
plied for the publication of lectures in book form, in 
accordance with the conditions defined by the terms which 
accompanied the conveyance of the fund into the hands 
of the afore-named Board of Trustees. 

These lectures are to be delivered by members of the 
Faculty of the Theological Seminary, and others whom 
the Faculty may select and secure for such service; and 
while the said Faculty shall guard diligently against the 
admission of anything into these memorial volumes at 
variance with the truth as it is in Jesus, they shall not 
be held responsible for the views of the individual 
lecturers. 



TO 

MY FATHER 

AND 
MY MOTHER 



PREFACE 



THE current year marks the Three Hundred and 
Fiftieth Anniversary of the publication of the 
Heidelberg Catechism. In accordance with the action 
of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in the 
United States, this historic event is to be celebrated by 
synods, classes, and congregations with appropriate ser- 
vices. Since the Reformed Church, from its foundation 
in the New World, has adopted the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism as its only standard of doctrine and its hand- 
book of religious instruction for the preparation of the 
youth for communicant church-membership, the celebra- 
tion has special significance for both ministry and laity. 
It ought to be a year of grace in which we shall renew 
our appreciation of a precious religious heritage and 
our sense of responsibility in the work of the kingdom 
of God. Blessed, indeed, is the Church whose lineage 
extends for centuries into the past ; but still more blessed 
is the Church, the scope of whose vision and the purpose 
of whose operations extend for centuries into the future. 

In response to a request from the Publication and 
Sunday School Board of the Reformed Church in the 
United States to prepare a pamphlet on the historical 
and doctrinal aspects of the Heidelberg Catechism for 
circulation during the anniversary year, I began these 
studies. The material, however, grew far beyond the 
scope of the original plan. In order that the work 
might be put into permanent form, the Faculty of the 



xii 



PREFACE 



Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in the 
United States, at Lancaster, Pa., urged me to publish 
it as a volume in the series of the Swander Memorial 
Lectures. While the contents were not formally de- 
livered before the Faculty and the students of the Semi- 
nary, the substance was presented from time to time 
in the class-room, before ministerial assemblies, and at 
congregational meetings throughout the year. In this 
way, I trust, the terms of the Lectureship were met 
and the purpose of its founders was subserved. I deem 
it a rare privilege to be permitted to contribute a volume 
to this series of lectures, hoping that I may maintain, 
in a measure at least, the standard which has been set 
by those who have preceded me. 

After the minute investigations of German and Dutch 
scholars, one would be presumptuous, indeed, to pretend 
to offer any new material on the history of the Heidel- 
berg Catechism. Yet, on account of the researches of 
Gooszen, Lang, Kluckhohn, Wolters, and others, many 
of the articles in the Tercentenary Monument (1863) 
must be rewritten. The new historical data I have en- 
deavored to incorporate in the second, third, and fourth 
chapters of this book. The plan of treatment and the 
differentiation of the doctrine of the Catechism from 
that of the several types of Protestantism and from con- 
temporary theological thought, I have found neither in a 
German nor in an English work. In gathering material 
from many sources and in showing the relation of the 
Catechism to the past and the present, I may have ren- 
dered a service to the reader, who will be able to count on 
the fingers of one hand the books in English on the Hei- 
delberg Catechism published during the last two decades. 

I am indebted to Prof. John S. Stahr, D.D., of Frank- 
lin and Marshall College, for reading the manuscript 



PREFACE 



xiii 



and for valuable suggestions, and to Prof. C. Nevin 
Heller, of Franklin and Marshall College, and to my 
colleague, Prof. Irvin H. DeLong, for their assistance 
in the reading and the correction of the proof. 

If these studies will help the reader to understand 
more clearly the history and genius of the Heidelberg 
Catechism and to comprehend more definitely the mis- 
sion and responsibility of the Reformed Church in the 
United States, then I shall feel that, with all its limita- 
tions and defects, this work has not been done in vain. 

Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 
February i, 191 3. 



CONTENTS 

PART I 
Historical 
Chapter I 

Page 

An Historical Sketch of the Catechumenate 
before the reformation 3 

Chapter II 

Evangelical Catechisms before the Heidelberg 
Catechism 19 

Chapter III 

The Reformation in the Palatinate and the 
Conversion of Frederick III. to Calvinism ... 32 

Chapter IV 

Preparation and Publication of the Heidelberg 
Catechism 51 

Chapter V 

The Reception of the Heidelberg Catechism ... 60 

PART II 
Doctrinal 
Chapter VI 

The Distinctive Doctrines of the Heidelberg 
Catechism 77 



CONTENTS xvi 

Chapter VII 

The Heidelberg Catechism and Contemporary 
Theological Thought 106 

Chapter VIII 

The Heidelberg Catechism and Religious Edu- 
cation — the Old Conception op Religious 
Education 126 

Chapter IX 

The Heidelberg Catechism and Religious Edu- 
cation — the New Conception op Religious 
Education 146 

PART III 

Reprint op the First Edition op the Heidelberg 
Catechism with the English Translation 
op the Tercentenary Edition 176 

Selected Bibliography 359 



PART I 



The Heidelberg Catechism 

Historical and Doctrinal Studies 



CHAPTER I 

AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CATECHUMEN- 
ATE BEFORE THE REFORMATION 

IN FELICITOUS phrase Max Goebel described the 
Heidelberg Catechism as "the flower and fruit of 
the whole German and French Reformation." It may- 
be said with equal truth that the catechisms of the 16th 
century are the fruition of a catechetical history be- 
ginning with the Christian Church. For the Reformers 
were not the inventors of the methods or of the ma- 
terial of catechization. These were gradually developed 
in the ancient and the mediaeval Church. But, like so 
many of the doctrines, ordinances, and usages of Cath- 
olicism, the practice of catechization had to be reformed 
and readjusted so as to conform to evangelical ideals 
and needs. To show the historical significance of the 
catechisms of the Reformation and to give the Heidel- 
berg Catechism its historical setting, we shall present a 
sketch of the origin and growth of the catechumenate 
from the beginning. 

Three things the Reformers received as a heritage 
from the mediaeval Church: — (i) the practice of cate- 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



chization in one form or another; (2) the material for 
catechetical instruction; (3) handbooks for the use of 
ministers and teachers, commonly called catechisms. 

I 

THE CATECHUMEN ATE 

The catechumenate in its simplest form is as old 
as Christianity. The Greek verb KaTrjx&v appears, in 
various forms, seven times in the New Testament. It 
means literally "to sound down upon," "to din in the 
ear"; its secondary sense is "to inform one by word of 
mouth," "to teach orally." Its use in several passages 
in the New Testament suggests instruction in the ele- 
ments of Christian doctrine, by way of contrast not to 
a superficial, but to a detailed and thoroughgoing, indoc- 
trination in "the mysteries of God." It had to do with 
"the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of 
God" (Heb. 5:12). Thus Theophilus had been "taught 
by word of mouth" (lit. catechized) in the things of 
Christ, yet Luke addressed his Gospel to him that he 
might be confirmed in what he was taught (Lk. 1 13-4). 
Apollos, also, had been "instructed" (lit. catechized) in 
the way of the Lord. Yet Priscilla and Aquila "took 
him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God 
more accurately" (Acts 18:25-26). While this specific 
meaning is not given the word in each of the seven 
passages in the New Testament, it gradually came to be 
applied to the instruction of converts from Judaism and 
paganism as a preparation for baptism and admission to 
all the privileges of the Church. 

Instruction of this sort was not an innovation of 
the early Christians. The Jews, in the schools attached 



SKETCH OF THE CATECHUMENATE 



to the synagogues, carefully educated their children in 
the Law and the Prophets by catechetical methods. 
Proselytes, — i.e. converts to Judaism — also, received 
catechetical instruction before, and probably after, their 
admission into the synagogue. The continuance of 
the practice by the Christians was not based on a di- 
rect command of Jesus or of his apostles, but upon 
the nature of the gospel, which is an appeal to the rea- 
son and conscience of men. However rudimentary its 
form may have been, catechization has been in vogue 
since the days of the apostles. 

The function of catechization was not performed 
at first by a distinct class, though it was closely allied 
to the work of the early teachers ( S&do-KaXoi ) . The 
period of preparation for baptism for obvious reasons 
had to be brief, e.g. in the case of the Ethiopian 
eunuch and of the Philippian jailer. The material of 
instruction was not fixed, as in our catechisms, nor was 
the Socratic method of asking and answering questions 
used — a method by no means essential to the catechetical 
system. As time went on the preliminary instruction 
of converts developed into the elaborate scheme of the 
catechumenate of the third and fourth centuries, desig- 
nated by Achelis, in his Practical Theology, as the 
Catechumenate of Proselytes in the ancient Church, in 
contrast to the Catechumenate of Children, which be- 
longs to the Middle Ages and to modern times. 

the catechumenate of proselytes 

References to the method and material of catechetical 
instruction in the 2d century are fragmentary and 
vague. It is the period of transition to the highly or- 
ganized catechumenate of the 4th and 5th centuries. 
The principle sources of information are the writings 



6 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



of Justin Martyr (100-163) an ^ Tertullian (160- 
230). From a description of Christian baptism by 
Justin Martyr in his Apology (I. 61), we infer that 
candidates for baptism who were converts from either 
Judaism or paganism were privately instructed; and 
when they were persuaded that the teaching was true 
and undertook to live accordingly, they were required 
to prepare themselves by prayer and fasting for the 
baptismal act. The congregation prayed and fasted with 
them. "Then they are brought by us where there is 
water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which 
we were ourselves regenerated. For in the name of 
God, the Father and Lord of the Universe, and of our 
Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then 
receive the washing of water." 

In Tertullian's On Prescription against Heretics (c. 
41), we find for the first time the word Catechumeni. 
From the day they announced their desire to join the 
church the catechumens were counted a part of the con- 
gregation, were placed under the care of a teacher, and 
became objects of the prayerful and loving attention 
of the members. They were not, however, admitted into 
the regular services of the sanctuary, but occupied the 
same position as penitents — an evidence of the moral 
rigor of their preparatory training. They assembled in 
special rooms in the church building or in annexes 
erected for that purpose. They entered upon the last 
stage of their instruction by a confession of faith, vows 
of fidelity, and renunciation, after which they were 
known as edocti (full-taught) or corde loti (washed in 
heart), and were permitted to take part in congregational 
worship. 



SKETCH OF THE CATECHUMENATE 7 



THE FINAL FORM OF THE CATECHUMENATE 

Admission to full church membership was made more 
and more difficult in the 3d and 4th centuries. Con- 
verts from heathenism had to be grounded in Christian 
principles and practices as thoroughly as possible, to safe- 
guard them against heresy and against relapsing into 
the world. The services of the Church, its doctrines, 
prayers, and sacraments, were surrounded with an air 
of sanctity and mystery, and could presumably be under- 
stood and enjoyed only by the "initiated," "illuminated," 
or baptized. An instance of extreme puritanical rigor 
is found in the history of the early Syrian Church, where, 
until the 4th century, baptism was "a privilege reserved 
for celibates," or was postponed till a period in life when 
men and women felt disposed to live separately. Thus 
the Christian community consisted of baptized celibates, 
together with adherents, who clung to the Church and 
yet were not really members of it. 

The catechumenate in its most highly developed form 
from the 4th to the 6th century, consisted of three stages 
extending over about two or three years : — 

I. A person announces his intention and desire to 
become a Christian. Investigations are made into the 
sincerity of his purpose, and then instructions are given 
on what the Church will require of him. If he repeats 
his desire, he is admitted to the rank of a Christian and 
pledged to the hearing of the sermon by the laying on 
of hands and the sign of the cross — a ceremony which 
even a layman may perform (Augustine de catech. rud. 
5; Conf. I. 11 ; de pecc. merit. 11. 26). 

II. Upon a specific desire for the Holy Communion 
the catechumen is inducted into the second stage of in- 
struction by laying on of hands, prayer, and the recep*- 



8 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



tion of salt (datio salis) — the sacrament of catechumens. 
He is privileged to make the sign of the cross and is 
permitted to take part in prayers for catechumens pre- 
ceding the Communion, after which he is formally dis- 
missed from the service. The prayers of the baptized 
members of the family he is forbidden to hear, and the 
blessing in family worship he can receive only when 
separated from the believers. He is under strict disci- 
pline of the congregation and is taught the doctrines of 
the Church, especially those pertaining to the person of 
Christ. He is admitted to the third stage only when 
he approves himself morally worthy and expresses a de- 
sire for advancement. 

III. He is enrolled on the list of the church at the 
beginning of the quadragesimal season. Those en- 
rolled are called illuminati or <£o>Ti£o/iievoi, because they 
are about to be enlightened with the truth of the gospel 
and to be admitted to baptism. On account of their 
fitness to enter upon the Christian life they are known 
as competentes. 

The instruction for baptism is given by a bishop or a 
presbyter. The first part consisted (i) of instruction 
in what they must give up (the renunciation) ; (2) of in- 
struction in what they must believe (the faith) ; (3) of 
a series of exorcisms by which the evil spirits were to 
be driven out of the candidates. By Thursday of Holy 
Week those who satisfied the bishop were finally selected, 
and, after fasting on Friday, they presented themselves 
on Saturday morning for the last act of preparation be- 
fore baptism itself, which normally took place that 
same evening. At their last preliminary service there 
were three ceremonies: (1) the concluding exorcism, 
with imposition of hands on the candidates as they 



SKETCH OF THE CATECHUMENATE 9 



knelt facing the east; (2) the exsufflation, or breathing 
into their faces; (3) the effeta, the touching of each 
person with spittle or oil on the mouth, ears, etc., in 
imitation of Jesus' action in Mark 7:31-34. 

Alongside of the instruction in doctrine and in the 
precepts of Christ, the candidates were subjected to a 
series of examinations, renunciations, and exorcisms, 
conducted in week-day assemblies and continuing to the 
3d or 4th Sunday in Lent. On one of these Sundays 
was observed the ceremony known as the traditio sym- 
boli and traditio orationis Domini, the making known 
to the catechumens of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, 
both of which were concealed from them up to this time. 
On the Saturday before Easter the catechumen returned 
the Creed (redditio symboli) in the way of a confession 
of his faith. On the morning of the Great Sabbath 
(Saturday before Easter) the last examination and the 
last exorcism (called Hephata) were held; in the evening 
followed baptism, confirmation, and the administration 
of the Lord's Supper. In Easter week the baptized re- 
ceived final instruction on the sacraments. They wore 
their white baptismal robes till the following Sunday, 
called on that account Dominica in Albis (the Lord's 
Day in White). Thus, after a long and tedious prepara- 
tion, the children of darkness became sons of light. 

However much we may be disposed to criticise the 
ceremonialism and the formalism of the catechumenate in 
the ancient Church, two characteristics are worthy of 
emulation for all time. The one was the training of the 
catechumen in prayer and the prayers of the congre- 
gation for the catechumen. In all its services the Church 
showed a devout interest in the welfare and progress of 
the catechumen, who felt himself upheld by the prayers 
of the congregation. The second was the care taken 



10 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



that admission into the Church should be granted only 
in response to the free volition of the individual. A 
person would not be admitted to catechetical instruc- 
tion or advanced from one stage of instruction to 
another without clear evidence of his desire for the 
privileges of church membership. 

THE CATECHU MEN ATE OF CHILDREN 

The rapid growth of the practice of infant baptism 
not only changed the significance of the catechumenate, 
but also led to its decay and abolition. After Chris- 
tianity had become established in the Empire, adult con- 
verts became less numerous and the training of bap- 
tized children came to the front. The purpose of the 
catechumenate was now altogether different. With 
proselytes (adult converts) baptism was the goal, with 
children of Christian parents the basis, of catechization. 
It was generally felt that baptized children were in need 
of instruction in both doctrine and morals. But the 
Church had little sense of responsibility for this task 
before the time of Gregory the Great (590) and of 
Charlemagne (900). Through the Middle Ages the in- 
struction of children under the direct supervision of 
the Church was somewhat indifferently attended to. 
The work was performed in three ways : by sponsors, 
by teachers in schools, by priests in the confessional. 

Sponsors were a natural outgrowth of infant bap- 
tism. The name is found as early as Tertullian (On 
Baptism, c. 18). From the 8th century on they became 
an important factor in the training of baptized children 
and served as a connecting link between the home and 
the church, the parents and the priests. In the Capitu- 
laries of the Frankish kings they are charged with the 
training of children according to their baptismal vows. 



SKETCH OF THE CATECHUMENATE n 

They are held responsible at least for teaching their 
god-children the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. The ne- 
glect of this duty by the sponsors had to be made known 
in the confessional and was sufficient ground for 
penance. 

Children were taught the doctrines of Christianity 
in cloister schools since the 9th century. The Council 
of Mayence (813) decreed that parents send their chil- 
dren to school either to the cloister or to the priest. In 
the 12th century and after, in cities, schools were opened, 
which were independent of the Church and yet were 
pervaded by a churchly spirit. In these, also, religious 
instruction was given. 

The confessional, in the second half of the Middle 
Ages, became one of the principal means of catechetical 
instruction. In the private confessional the priest was 
required to teach penitents the nature of mortal sins; 
and, if they were ignorant of the Creed and the Lord's 
Prayer, they were refused absolution until they mem- 
orized these forms. Inquiry was made of sponsors to 
what extent they performed their duties toward the 
children in their charge. The derelict were severely re- 
buked and were compelled to amend, as far as possible, 
their shortcomings. The priests themselves taught the 
Decalogue and the Ave Maria to children, who were per- 
mitted to enter the confessional at seven and were com- 
pelled to come before fourteen. The penitential books 
contain many childlike and childish questions which 
were especially prepared for the teaching of children. 
Gerson, one of the nobler spirits of his age, in a tract 
on the Training of Children for Christ, regards the pri- 
vate confessional as the chief means for child nurture. 

We may take the practice in religious education 
among the Anglo-Saxons as typical of what was done 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



in other countries. "Among the duties incumbent on the 
parish priest the first was to instruct his flock in the doc- 
trines and duties of Christianity, and to extirpate from 
among them the lurking remains of paganism. * * * 
He was ordered to explain to his parishioners the ten 
commandments; to take care that all could repeat and 
understand the Lord's Prayer and the Creed; to ex- 
pound in English, on Sundays, the portion of Scripture 
proper to the Mass of the day, and to preach, or, if he 
were unable to preach, to read at least from a book 
some lessons of instruction" (Lingard, Anglo-Saxon 
Church, c. iv.). 

Through this institution the Catholic Church keeps 
all its members, adult as well as children, in the posi- 
tion of catechumens. They are perpetually the wards 
of the Church, kept under its strictest surveillance and 
never attaining the freedom with which Christ made them 
free. The goal of the catechumenate is reached only 
when the earthly pilgrim has passed from time into 
eternity. 

II 

THE MATERIAL OF INSTRUCTION 

The material for the instruction of the catechumen 
was not definitely fixed in the apostolic period. It 
gradually crystallized into form. At first much em- 
phasis was put on moral precepts, though doctrinal sub- 
jects were not ignored. The converts were doubtless 
taught the salient facts in the life of Jesus, such as Paul 
received from his predecessors in Christ and recounts 
in I Cor. 15:3-9. The words of Jesus, as these are pre- 
sented in the Sermon on the Mount, were probably im- 



SKETCH OF THE CATECHUMENATE 



13 



pressed on the applicant for baptism. Of the Teach- 
ing of the Twelve Apostles (before 150) Kriiger, in 
History of Barly Christian Literature, says: "The first 
part (1-6) presents, under the image of the two paths 
of life and death, the moral precept with which the 
catechumen was to be made acquainted before baptism ; 
while the second part was addressed to those who had 
received baptism." Here, then, we have a definite 
course of instruction laid down for catechumens in that 
portion of Christendom to which this treatise belongs. 

The letter of Pliny the Younger to the Emperor 
Trajan (110-111) implies instructions of a similar kind. 
He says of the Christians in Bithynia, "that they had been 
accustomed to come together on a fixed day before day- 
light and sing responsively a song unto Christ as God; 
and to bind themselves zvith an oath, not with a view 
to the commission of some crime, but, on the contrary, 
that they zvould not commit theft, nor robbery, nor adul- 
tery; that they would not break faith, nor refuse to re- 
store a deposit when asked for it." The pagan Governor 
was especially impressed by the pledge of Christians to 
live a moral life. Justin Martyr (Apol. I. 61) also tells 
us that baptism was administered unto those "who were 
convinced and believed that what we teach is true and 
promise to live according to it" 

With the rise of heresies in the Church and the de- 
velopment of theology as a rational basis of the gospel, 
more stress was laid on doctrinal instruction, especially 
on the person of Christ. By the middle of the 2d cen- 
tury, and probably some decades before 150, churches 
had baptismal confessions which were used for the in- 
struction of candidates for baptism. The earliest known 
form is that of the Roman Church. It is based on the 
trinitarian formula in the baptismal command of Matt. 



14 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



28:19. Prof. Miiller, in his Symbolik, conjectures that 
at the end of the first century it contained the following 
parts : the omnipotence of God, the birth of Jesus from 
Mary from the seed of David, his death under Pontius 
Pilate, resurrection, the coming of Christ, judgment of 
the living and the dead. This material gradually took 
the form of the Old Roman Symbol about 150 a. d., 
which ran substantially as follows: "I believe in God 
the Father almighty and in Christ Jesus his son, who 
was born of Mary the Virgin, was crucified under Pon- 
tius Pilate and buried, on the third day rose from the 
dead, ascended into heaven, sitteth on the right hand 
of the Father, from whence he cometh to judge quick 
and dead; and in Holy Spirit, resurrection of flesh." 
(McGiffert, The Apostles Creed, p. 7). 

In the 4th century an elaborate course of instruction 
was given to the catechumens, in which there was prog- 
ress from the lower to the higher truths. The details 
varied according to the discretion of the teacher and 
the necessities of the taught. Two typical treatises of 
this period have been preserved. The one is by Cyril, 
of Jerusalem, entitled Catecheses ; the other by Augus- 
tine, entitled de Catechizandis rudibus. The material 
was presented in the form of lectures and covered a 
wide scope. Cyril, for example, discusses the following 
topics: in the introductory lecture and Cat. 1, the signifi- 
cance of preparation for baptism; Cat. 2, sin and re- 
pentance ; Cat. 3, baptism and its saving effect ; Cat. 4, an 
exposition of ten dogmas, based on the articles of the 
Creed; Cat. 5, faith, in its objective and subjective sense; 
Cat. 6-17, an extended explanation of the Creed; Cat. 
18-22, an address to the baptized and an exposition of 
the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. 

The essential catechetical material was gradually 



SKETCH OF THE CATECHUMENATE 



limited to the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Two Com- 
mandments of love, and an explanation of the sacra- 
ments. The Decalogue was not a part of the catechism 
before the Middle Ages, though it was used in families 
and in church services. These three parts, Cyprian and 
Augustine, the Latin Fathers, considered the essential 
truths of salvation and called "the Abbreviated Word" 
(verbum abbreviatum) . They were also the substance 
of the disciplina arcani, socalled because they were kept 
strictly secret from the world at large, and were taught 
only to those who were properly prepared to receive 
them. 

Thomas Aquinas (1227-74) in his Summa, III. qu. 71, 
art. 4, speaks of instructio conversiva, which even a 
layman was permitted to give, and of the conversatio 
Christianae vitae, to which sponsors were obligated. 
The instructio consists (1) of training in the rudiments 
of faith which qualified one for receiving the sacraments, 
which devolved principally upon the priest, and (2) of 
teaching in the mysteries of the faith and the perfection 
of the Christian life (doubtless confirmation and the 
Holy Communion), which was the work of the bishop. 
Much material was added to the principal parts of a 
catechism, as may be seen from a Picture Catechism 
(Bilderkatechismus) used in the 15th century for teach- 
ing children. It contains verses adapted to memorizing 
on the following subjects: the five senses, the seven 
mortal sins, the six works of mercy, the seven sacra- 
ments, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the eight 
beatitudes, the nine strange sins (aliena peccata), sins 
crying unto heaven, ten precepts. 



16 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



III 

CATECHISMS 

Handbooks for the use of the minister, parents, or 
sponsors, are of comparatively late origin. The word 
"catechism" is first found in the writings of Augustine. 
He meant by it, not a book, but a method of oral in- 
struction. The questions addressed to sponsors in bap- 
tism, which were the same as those answered by prose- 
lytes in the ancient Church, were called "catechism." 
Luther was the first to apply the word to a book designed 
for the religious instruction of youth. 

Numerous manuals, however, were in use in the 
Church before the "catechism" came into vogue. Priests, 
since the 9th century, were directed to procure expositions 
of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. Before the invention 
of printing such expositions were necessarily in manu- 
script, and in the hands of the clergy rather than of the 
people. Among the most notable was The Exposition of 
the Monk Kero of St. Gall (8th century), including the 
Creed and the Lord's Prayer.. In the 9th century ap- 
peared a valuable catechism known as the Weissenburg, 
composed by Ot fried, and comprising the Creed, the 
Lord's Prayer, the Commandments, the Athanasian sym- 
bol and the Gloria in Excelsis. This book is of special 
significance for Protestants, since it can be shown that 
Luther made use of it in the preparation of his catechism. 
Bruno of Wurzburg (1045) was the h rst to expound the 
Creed and the Lord's Prayer in questions and answers. 
The pupil asked, the teacher answered. This method 
became popular in the penitential books of the 14th and 
15th centuries. In a booklet entitled The Comfort of the 
Sonl (15th century), the child says to the father con- 
fessor : "Dear father, I beseech you through our Lord 



SKETCH OF THE CATECHUMENATE 17 



God, teach me what are the Ten Commandments." The 
confessor answers : "Dear child, I would teach thee that 
thou askest God before me. The first Commandment is 
as follows : Non adorabis, etc." 

The Waldenses and the Bohemian Brethren were 
unusually zealous in catechization and produced several 
catechisms. They accepted the standard formulas, the 
Decalogue, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, and ex- 
pounded them under the topics of faith, love, hope. The 
Bohemian Catechism was sent to Luther by Bishop Luke, 
with the request that he translate it into German; which 
he refused, because he did not agree with the doctrine of 
the Lord's Supper contained in it. 

With the invention of printing catechisms could be 
placed in the hands of the laity. One of the earliest 
methods of popularizing the contents was the use of 
illustrated wall tablets, containing the Creed, the Lord's 
Prayer, and the Decalogue. They were hung up in homes 
and schools, especially among the poorer people and the 
peasants. A Tablet of the Christian Life appeared in 
the 15th century, with the following admonition: "All 
good Christians ought to have it for themselves, their 
children, and their servants in their homes." Luther's 
small catechism, in its original edition, was printed on 
two tablets for use in homes and schools. 

To summarize, we find that the Reformers accepted 
the standardized material of the catechisms of the Catholic 
Church — the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Com- 
mandments, with explanations of the sacraments. They 
also adopted the form of questions and answers intro- 
duced by Bruno. Some, even, like Leo Jude in his large 
catechism, assigned the questions to the pupil and the an- 
swers to the teacher. They also used the tablets for the 

walls of homes and schools. The catechisms, however, 

2 



18 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



were prepared in the language of the people, instead of, 
the more stately Latin of the mediaeval Church. Yet it 
must be remembered that bishops and councils reiterated 
the demand that the main parts of the catechism be ex- 
pounded in the vulgar tongue. Special stress was laid by 
the Reformers on the instruction of children for confirma- 
tion, as well as of adults, whose education in religion had 
been sadly neglected for generations. The distinctive ge- 
nius of Protestantism appears in the oft repeated ques- 
tions, both in Lutheran and Reformed catechisms : "What 
is this ?" "What do you understand by this ?" "What dost 
thou believe concerning this?" etc. The catechumen is 
supposed not only to memorize sacred formulas, but to 
have a personal experience and understanding of the 
truth which they contain. 



CHAPTER II 



EVANGELICAL CATECHISMS BEFORE THE HEIDEL- 
BERG CATECHISM 

Hp HE catechisms of the Protestant churches are natur- 



A ally classified as Lutheran and Reformed. In Ger- 
many a number of catechisms were published before the 
appearance of Luther's two catechisms, and in Switzer- 
land and Germany, among the Zwinglians and Calvinists, 
the forerunners of the Heidelberg were even more numer- 
ous. These preparatory works, however, were quickly 
superseded by the Small Catechism of Luther and the 
Heidelberg Catechism of Ursinus and Olevianus, both of 
which have become authoritative symbols in the respective 
churches. 



In a work by F. Cohrs, "Die evangelischen Katechis- 
musversnche vor Luther s Enchiridion" (1900-02), he 
catalogues and describes a long series of catechetical 
works before Luther's catechisms (1526). One of the 
earliest, known as Questions for Children, came from 
the Bohemian Brethren (1502). Luther became ac- 
quainted with it in 1523, and followed it in putting the 
Decalogue in the first part of his catechism. His col- 
league, Melancthon, published an Enchiridion (Hand- 
book) in 1525. It contained an explanation of the Deca- 




I 



LUTHERAN CATECHISMS 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



logue, the Lord's Prayer, and selections from the Scrip- 
tures, with an appendix for instruction in reading and a 
brief course on morals based on passages from the seven 
ancient sages. In 1527 he also issued Passages in which 
the zvhole Christian Life is Contained. An anonymous 
booklet for the instruction of laymen and children ap- 
peared in 1525, comprising for the first time the five main 
parts (fiinf Hauptstilcke) — the Commandments, the 
Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the two Sacraments. The 
"first actually evangelical catechism" was Baders Ge- 
sprdchbuchlein (Conversational Booklet) in 1526. John 
Brentz issued Questions on the Christian Faith for Youth 
(1527 or 8), which contained expositions of the five main 
parts in a clear, childlike, and confessional form. His 
large catechism did not appear until 1535. From the 
hands of Andrew Althamer we have Catechetical In- 
struction in the Christian Faith; hoiv the Youth are to 
be taught and trained (1528). It was the first book in 
which the material was arranged in questions and answers 
and which had the term "catechism" in its title. Valuable 
as these books were, they fell into the background after 
Luther's catechisms were circulated. 

Even before Luther published his 95 theses (1517), 
he felt the need of explaining to the people the traditional 
catechetical material. Traces of such feeling are in 
evidence at least since 15 16. For the aid of those who 
came to the confessional he prepared a Short Explanation 
of the Ten Commandments (1518). This was followed 
by Short Directions on how one is to Confess his Sins 
(1518), in substance an explanation of the Decalogue. 
The material in these two minor tracts was published in 
A Short Form of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and 
the Lord's Prayer (1520). Three of the main parts of 
a catechism were for the first time combined by Luther 



EVANGELICAL CATECHISMS 



21 



in this single treatise — the most significant preparatory 
work for his catechisms. In the preface he defines the 
internal relation between the Commandments, the Creed 
and the Lord's Prayer. Since his definition suggests the 
plan of arrangement in the Heidelberg Catechism, we 
submit it at some length : — 

"There are three things which a man must know in 
order to be saved : — 

"First, he must know what he is to do and what he 
is to avoid. Second, when he realizes that he cannot of 
his own power do what is required of him, nor refrain 
from that which is forbidden, he must know where he 
should seek and find the power necessary. In the third 
place, he must know how to seek and find it. The sick 
man is a case in point. If he would recover, he must 
first know the nature of his illness, and also what he may 
do and what he may not do. Then, he must know where 
the remedy is to be found that will enable him to do as 
a healthy man does. Lastly, he must desire, seek, and 
secure that remedy. By a similar process the command- 
ments teach a man to recognize his malady, so that he 
realizes and experiences what he can do and what he 
cannot do, what he can avoid and what he cannot avoid, 
with the result that he recognizes himself as a sinful 
and wicked man. 

"Then, secondly, the Creed offers grace as a remedy, 
and he is enabled to be godly and keep the command- 
ments. It reveals God and his mercy, made available 
and offered through Christ. 

"Thirdly, the Lord's Prayer teaches him how to desire 
and seek this grace, and shows how to secure it, by 
means of regular, humble and comforting prayer. Thus 
grace shall be given him and he shall be saved through 
the fulfilment of the commandments. These three things 
virtually comprise the entire Scriptures." 

The need of a "coarse (groben), plain, simple, good 
catechism" (Deutsche Messe, 1526), was brought home 
to him in two ways: by the revolutionary disturbances 



22 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



at Wittenberg (1521-22) and by the visitation of the 
churches of Saxony (1528). In his experience with the 
radicals he saw clearly that the Church could be recon- 
structed on evangelical bases only by grounding pastors 
and people in the essential truths of salvation. "The 
minimum of knowledge for a Christian" he defined later 
on in the Foreword of the Large Catechism, as follows : 
"However, for the common people we would be satisfied 
if they learned the three parts, which Christendom has 
received as a heritage from olden times" — the Decalogue, 
Creed, and Lord's Prayer. Suiting the action to the 
word he preached a series of catechetical sermons in 
Wittenberg during the Lenten season. As a guide for 
adults and children he resolved on the preparation of 
a catechism in 1525. He urged Jonas and Agricola to 
prepare a work of this sort, but for unknown reasons 
they failed to comply with his request. He delivered 
another course of catechetical sermons in 1528, which 
were taken down in writing by Deacon George Rorer. 
"In these memoranda," says Kolde, "one can trace the 
gradual growth of Luther's explanation of the main parts 
of his catechisms." 

Upon his return from the visitation of the Saxon 
churches he was so impressed with the urgent need of 
preparing popular religious handbooks, that he set himself 
to the task without further delay. In the preface of his 
Small Catechism we catch a glimpse of the motive which 
compelled him to so difficult an undertaking: 

"The deplorable condition in which I found the 
religious affairs of your parishes on my recent visit of 
inspection has impelled me to publish this concise and 
simple Catechism. Merciful God, what wretched ignor- 
ance I beheld ! The common people — especially in the 
villages — apparently have no knowledge whatever of 
Christian doctrine, and even many pastors are ignorant 



EVANGELICAL CATECHISMS 



23 



and incapable teachers. 

"Though all are called Christians and have the privi- 
lege of the sacraments, yet they cannot even repeat the 
Lord's Prayer, nor the Creed, nor the Ten Command- 
ments. They live like brutes, and, having now the light 
of the Gospel, rankly abuse their Christian liberty." 

The ideal which he strove to realize in his catechisms 
he defined in the preface of the Deutsche Messe (1526) : 

"Catechism means instruction, by which one teaches 
and shows the heathen who desire to become Christians, 
what they are to believe, to do, to abstain from, to know, 
in Christianity. This instruction must be given in ser- 
mons, and be repeated and read in homes." 

He began the work in January, 1529, as we learn 
from a letter, dated January 15, to Martin Gorlitz, of 
Braunschweig, in which he writes : "I am engaged in 
preparing a catechism for crude villagers (pro rudibus 
paganis)" . He refers doubtless to the Large Catechism. 
But he was preparing at the same time a catechism in 
the form of tablets (tabulae) for children and the 
family (pro pueris et familia). The tablet, as we have 
seen, was in use in the latter part of the Middle Ages 
and was adopted by Luther as the most suitable way 
for the publication of the Small Catechism in its original 
form. The first tablet, with the Decalogue, Creed, and 
Lord's Prayer, appeared in 1529; the second, with the 
exposition of Confession, Baptism, and the Lord's Sup- 
per, in March, 1529. None of these tablets has been 
preserved. The original edition was quickly exhausted. 
A Low German translation of the tablets by Bugenhagen 
came out in book form in April, 1529. The original 
edition was issued in a booklet by Luther not until May, 
1529, to be followed in a short time by a second edition. 
The Large Catechism was published in April of the same 
year. 



24 



THE HEIDELEERG CATECHISM 



Luther deserves the credit for giving the catechetical 
material of the ancient Church a fixed form in the five 
parts of the Small Catechism. These he acknowledged 
to be "a heritage from olden times,' 5 and considered as 
the necessary knowledge of a Christian. The material 
was taken into the Reformed catechisms, though the 
order of arrangement was changed. The plan of the 
Heidelberg is probably taken from Lutheran sources ; 
its Christocentric character, also, according to which 
the Christian's comfort is based, not on knowledge nor on 
the covenant of God, but on the one offering of Christ 
on the Cross, indicates a Lutheran and a Melanc- 
thonian trend. All this shows in a general way the 
close relation between the catechetical traditions of the 
Lutheran and Reformed churches and the importance 
of recognizing the influence of the one on the other 
in their development in the 16th century. 

II 

REFORMED CATECHISMS 

The authors of the Heidelberg Catechism had the 
benefit of a rich catechetical heritage, not only from the 
Lutheran Church, but also from the Reformed Church. 
The earliest known attempts at the making of catechisms 
among the Reformed are two tablets : the one prepared 
in Strasburg, undated, the other in Zurich by Leo Jude 
(1525). The former contained the text of the Ten 
Commandments, with the traditional numbering, and 
brief explanations ; the latter has the Commandments, 
the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, and the Creed, without 
explanation. Other preliminary and tentative works in 
the formative period were prepared by Oecolampadius, 



EVANGELICAL CATECHISMS 25 



Questions and Answers for the Instruction of Children 
(43 Ouu. 1525) ; by Johann Zwick, of Constance, 
Concise Exposition of the Lord's Prayer, and, in 1520, 
An Exposition of the Creed; by Konrad Sam, of Ulm, 
Christian Instruction of Youth (1528); by Hans Ger- 
hard!, Question and Answer (1525), a description of the 
true faith in the form of a dialogue. All of these tracts, 
or booklets, are earnest efforts to meet a widely felt need, 
yet none of them was more than a preliminary work 
preparing the way for a greater catechism in the future. 

The catechisms in which the distinctively Reformed 
characteristics were gradually wrought out, and which 
were the background of the Heidelberg, may be divided 
into five groups, according to the place of composition, as 
follows: the Catechisms of (1) Strasburg, (2) LTpper 
Germany, (3) Zurich, (4) Geneva, (5) Emden and 
London (Lasco and Micronius). In Strasburg three 
men were prominent, Bucer, Capito, and Matthias Zell ; 
in Upper Germany, Jacob Otther, Boniface Wolfhart, 
and Johann Meckhart; in Zurich, Leo Jude; in Geneva, 
John Calvin; and in Emden and London, Lasco and 
Micronius. The Catechisms of each of these men are 
enumerated in Lang's Heidelberger Katechismus, etc., 
chap. 1. Space permits us to cite only those works 
which had a direct influence on the preliminary drafts 
of Ursinus and on the Heidelberg — Leo Jude, Christian 
Introduction (1534); A Short Catechism (1535), A 
Brief Formula of the Christian Religion (1538 or 9); 
Bullinger, Fifteen Sermons (1549-51), Catechism 
Written for Adults (1559); Calvin, Catechism of the 
Genevan Church (1545); Lasco, Short Investigation of 
the Faith (1553) ; Micronius, Short Catechism; and Cate- 
chism for Children, by the preachers of Emden (1554). 
These sources are doubtless referred to in a general way 



26 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



by Olevianus in a letter to Bullinger, when he speaks of 
the Heidelberg as "devout meditations gathered not of 
one, but of many." 

In this series of Reformed catechisms one can trace 
a gradual advance in the art of making catechisms, as 
well as the growth of a distinctively Reformed type. 
Leo Jude was the first to adopt the order and the num- 
bering of the Ten Commandments as now generally in 
vogue in the Reformed churches. In a work of Capito 
of Strasburg the address in the Lord's Prayer, Pater 
Noster in Latin, is translated into German Unser Vater, 
instead of Vater Unser as by Luther. The petition, 
"deliver us from evil" (von dem iibel) is made to read, 
"deliver us from the evil one" (von dem B'osen). The 
division of the material into five parts — the Creed, the 
Lord's Prayer, the Commandments, Baptism, and the 
Lord's Supper — was taken by Bucer from Luther's Small 
Catechism and was generally adopted by the Reformed 
Churches. The earlier catechisms were cumbersome and 
impractical. They lacked the experimental and confes- 
sional note. The material of some was not divided into 
questions and answers. In others, when so arranged, the 
pupil was to ask the question and the teacher to answer. 
The speculative, theological, and at times the polemical 
elements, bulked so large that the material was not 
adapted for the instruction of youth. Bucer simplified 
the contents, eliminated the speculative parts, and re- 
tained that which was useful for quickening the life and 
enriching the faith of the catechumen. In his catechism, 
for example, not a word is found about predestination, 
though he himself was a predestinarian. He, also, re- 
iterated the personal and experimental question, "What 
does this profit thee?" and "What are you to learn by 
this?" One of the definite and permanent results of the 



EVANGELICAL CATECHISMS 



27 



catechetical development in the Reformed Churches was 
the distinction made between religion and theology, be- 
tween faith and dogma; a catechism having to do with 
the former and not with the latter. 

The idea of the covenants, which played so large a 
part in Reformed theology, is found in the catechisms 
of Jude and Bullinger. The Zwinglian spirit was per- 
petuated in Reformed catechisms by Jude. Calvin in- 
troduced precise definitions, logical arrangement, group- 
ing of the material, and practical expositions. He 
placed the Commandments after the Creed, so as to make 
them the rule of life for the believers, as well as a mirror 
of sin for the impenitent. Lasco framed the answers 
so as to make them an expression of the catechumen's 
experience. He was, also, most successful in the prac- 
tical application of the truth to the life of the pupil. 

The tendency in all these catechisms is toward a 
common type, the biblical and the experimental. There 
is, also, a marked advance in simplicity, conciseness, 
brevity, as we pass from the earlier to the later cate- 
chisms. Yet two things are still to be desired: (1) a 
form of questions and answers, showing clearly whether 
catechumens are to be taught by a kind of doctrinal 
conversation, or by catechetical questions ; (2) an organic 
relation of the several parts of the catechism, so that 
each part is controlled by a central idea. A catechism 
which would include these excellences, and exclude the 
defects of its forerunners, would approach the ideal of 
the catechetical art — a claim which may be made, in part 
at least, for the Heidelberg. 

The immediate preparation for the composition of 
the new catechism was made by Ursinus in two prelim- 
inary works (Vorarbeiten) in Latin: Summa Theologiac 
and Catechesis Minor. Alting's statement in the History 



28 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



of the Church of the Palatinate that Olevianus, also, 
prepared a preparatory tract on the Covenant of Grace, 
is no longer tenable. Not a trace of this work can be 
found, and it was probably confused with his Firm 
Foundation (Festen Grund), written after the Heidelberg 
was published. 

The Summa Theologiae was prepared in the autumn 
of 1 561, as an outline for the instruction of students in 
the Sapienz College in the city of Heidelberg. It contains 
323 questions, and covers 47 octavo pages. It was writ- 
ten without a reference to the religious controversies of 
the times, nor was it intended as a preparatory work for 
a catechism. The author made use of the earlier Re- 
formed catechisms and was evidently under Melancthon's 
influence. The only allusion to current controversies is 
found in the reiteration of the doctrine of the perse- 
verance of the saints, which recalls the conflict between 
Marbach and Zanchius at Strasburg. 

The Catechesis Minor, with 108 questions, was pre- 
pared by Ursinus, doubtless after frequent conferences 
with his associates, as a basis for the proposed catechism. 
In both form and spirit it differed from the Summa Theo- 
logiae. It reveals in some points a mediating or concilia- 
tory tendency. The Elector had subscribed the modified 
Augsburg Confession and was naturally inclined to tone 
down certain Zwinglian and Calvinistic doctrines so as 
to make them conform to the Confession and to conciliate 
his Lutheran subjects. This tendency accounts, at least 
in part, for the attitude of the Catechism toward the 
doctrine of predestination, the Lord's Supper, and 
church discipline. 

In the Summa Theologiae the covenants are the con- 
trolling idea, in the Catechesis Minor the idea of salvation 
through Christ is central. In this respect it approaches 



EVANGELICAL CATECHISMS 



29 



Melancthon's Loci and the Epistle to the Romans. The 
threefold division of the Heidelberg is brought out in the 
third question of Minor: "What does the Word of God 
teach ?" "First, it shows us our misery ; then, how we are 
delivered from it; and what gratitude we should show 
to God for this deliverance." The relation of divine 
sovereignty to the origin of evil, discussed at length in 
the Summa, is practically ignored. The ministry of the 
Church, magnified by the Genevans as the instrument of 
the Holy Spirit, is reduced to the "preaching of the 
Gospel" and "the use of the Holy Sacraments." In the 
doctrine of the Lord's Supper, the Catechesis Minor also 
departed from the Summa, which offered an unsatisfac- 
tory complex of Zwinglian and Calvinistic ideas. For 
three things the smaller work was indebted to the Lon- 
don Confessions of Lasco and the Emden Catechism of 
Micronius: the assurance of the forgiveness of sin 
through the death of Christ, the idea of the impartation 
of the body and blood of Christ as spiritual food unto 
eternal life, and the pledging of the communicant to a 
holy and benevolent life. The first two ideas were taken 
into the Heidelberg, but the third was omitted, probably 
for the purpose of conciliation. 

The Catechesis Minor may be considered a tentative 
draft for the new catechism. The difference between 
the Heidelberg and the preliminary Latin draft of Minor 
must be accounted for by the suggestions made by the 
Theological Faculty, the Palatinate ministers, Olevianus, 
and the Elector Frederick III. This is in accord with the 
statement in the preface of the original edition that the 
Catechism was prepared "with the counsel and additions 
of the whole Theological Faculty, all the Superintendents, 
and the foremost ministers." 

However much the Catechesis Minor deviates from 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



the Summa Theologiae, Prof. Lang concludes that the 
theological character of the former is not changed, but 
that the difference appears mainly in the general abbrevi- 
ation of the material (108 instead of 323 questions), its 
practical bent, the elimination of speculative questions, 
the emphasis on the religious and ethical motives — all of 
which were an improvement on the Summa and were a 
positive advance toward a better catechism than had thus 
far been produced. 

Yet it must be observed that in the Catcchesis Minor 
the resemblance to Calvin's Catechism is not so marked 
as in the Summa. In the former appears the influence 
of the German Reformation. The relation of the first 
two parts, Man's Sin and Man's Salvation, is found in 
the catechisms of the Lutheran type, especially in 
Luther's Short Form of the Commandments, the Creed, 
and the Lord's Prayer, quoted above. Prof. Reu (Quel- 
len zur Geschichte des kirchlichen Unterrichts, Brster 
Band) publishes a catechism which he has recently 
brought to light, entitled, Kurtsen Ordenlichen summa, 
etc., Heidelberg. John Kohle, 1558. It is a reprint of 
an original published in Regensburg, 1554, and contains 
the threefold disposition of material followed by Ursinus 
in the third question of the Catechesis Minor and in the 
Heidelberg Catechism. Reu concludes that "one of the 
most renowned advantages of the Heidelberg Catechism, 
the systematic disposition of its material, is taken from a 
catechetical work which comes from a Lutheran source." 
The idea of thankfulness as the bond of union between 
the Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, in the third 
part, is also a characteristic of the earlier German cate- 
chisms. "Just at these points," says Lang, "the whole 
work, Catechesis Minor, reaches far deeper into the evan- 
gelical conception of salvation, than the Genevan Cate- 



EVANGELICAL CATECHISMS 



chism ; and here, also, we observe for the first time, even 
in the preliminary work of the Heidelberg, an organic 
growth beyond Calvinism without giving up its positive 
truths, or entering into opposition against it." 

After this brief resume of the catechetical works of 
the Lutheran and Reformed theologians before the year 
1563, the somewhat rhetorical statement of Max Goebel 
will appear to be in close conformity to the facts of 
history: "The Heidelberg Catechism may in the true 
sense of the term be considered the flower and fruit of 
the whole German and French Reformation. It has 
Lutheran inwardness, Melancthonian clearness, Zwing- 
lian simplicity, and Calvinistic fire, harmoniously 
blended." It is not simply the work of a man, but the 
ripe product of an historical process of two generations, 
yea, in a measure of fifteen centuries. 



CHAPTER III 



THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE AND THE 
CONVERSION OF FREDERICK III. TO CALVINISM 



THE INTRODUCTION OF THE REFORMATION 

HE Reformation was introduced into the Pala- 



X tinate at a comparatively late date. From the 
year 1508 to 1544 the government of the electorate was 
in the hands of Louis I. While he was not an active 
opponent of reform, and at times even seemed favorably 
inclined to it, he was never an ardent patron of the 
evangelical cause. He was disposed by nature to prefer 
peace and harmony in his realm rather than strife and 
division, which always attended the introduction of the 
Protestant regime. Accordingly he remained a moderate 
Catholic to the day of his death. 

He was succeeded by his aged brother, Frederick II., 
who, owing to his life of adventure as well as to his 
close personal connection with the Catholic house of Haps- 
burg, had hitherto taken but little interest in the religious 
questions of the age. But the people of the Palatinate 
had in the meanwhile come under the influence of the 
new spirit. His nephew, Otho Henry, had already 
(1542) introduced Lutheranism into the Newburg por- 
tion of the Palatinate and had joined the Protestant 
League of Schmalcald. On the 28th of March, 1545, 
the Elector Frederick II. appealed to Melancthon for 



I 




THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE 33 



counsel. But before his advice was carried out the im- 
patience of the people outran the hesitation of the 
Prince. On Sunday, December 20, 1545, as the mass 
was about to be celebrated in the Church of the Holy 
Ghost at Heidelberg, the whole assembly began to sing 
with loud voice the evangelical hymn, Bs ist das Heil 
tins kommen her, long in use as a signal of reform. 
The Elector was obedient to the voice of the people and 
decreed the introduction of a new order of worship. 
On Christmas, 1545, the Lord's Supper was administered 
in the evangelical way in the chapel of the castle, and on 
January 3, 1546, a similar service was held in the Church 
of the Holy Ghost before a large assembly of the people. 

While the Reformation was now recognized by the 
Elector and hailed by the people, the movement so 
auspiciously begun received a serious check. The League 
of Schmalcald, organized by the evangelical princes and 
nobles of Germany for the defense of Protestantism 
against the Catholic emperor and princes, was disinte- 
grated by the defeat of the Protestant forces in the battle 
of Muhlberg, April 25, 1547. The members and friends 
of the League suffered the displeasure of the Emperor. 
Though Frederick was only a supporter, not a member, 
of the League, yet he and his people came in for their 
share of trouble. The Reformation in the Palatinate was 
temporarily stopped, and Catholic institutions and 
forms were restored. Priests returned to the parishes, 
mass was celebrated in the churches, and Catholic pro- 
fessors taught in the University. For four years the 
people had to suffer the impositions of the Emperor and 
the Pope, and found relief only through the victories of 
the Elector Maurice of Saxony, who curbed the danger- 
ous encroachments of the Emperor and wrested from him 

the Treaty of Passau. Through the religious Peace of 

3 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



Augsburg, 1555, the Lutheran faith was given the same 
legal recognition as the Catholic throughout the empire, 
and the princes were free to establish in their provinces 
either the one or the other of these two churches. 

The provisions of this peace encouraged Frederick 
to advance the evangelical cause. He issued orders for 
the introduction of a new church order, opened the 
Sapienz College for the training of preachers in an Au- 
gustinian convent at Heidelberg, and in 1556 offered an 
asylum in his dominions to the Protestants who had been 
driven from England by the persecutions of Queen Mary. 
Three days before his death (Feb. 26, 1556) he, together 
with his wife and forty courtiers, partook of the Lord's 
Supper in both kinds. 

The successor of Frederick, Otho Henry, was pro- 
claimed with joy and confidence by the evangelical por- 
tion of his subjects. He was known to be in cordial 
sympathy with the Reformation, and he proved true to 
popular expectations. As early as March, 1556, he or- 
dered that, for the future, nothing but the pure doctrine 
of the gospel should be preached in his domains and that 
all papal superstitions should be removed. A commis- 
sion was appointed to visit and inspect the churches, 
make a report of their condition, and devise plans for 
their thorough renovation. He established a Consistory 
(Kirchenrath) , two ministers and two laymen, who were 
given charge of the ecclesiastical affairs of the country. 
The University was revived by the appointment of evan- 
gelical professors. The sum of 1,200 florins was appro- 
priated for the support of students for the ministry. An 
order of worship was prepared for use in the churches, 
and the Augsburg Confession and its Apology became 
the form of doctrine for preachers and professors. 
Otho's propitious reign, however, was cut short by his 



THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE 35 
sudden death, February 12, 1559. 



II 

Frederick's conversion to Calvinism 

The successor of Otho Henry was the Elector Fred- 
erick III., known in history as the Pious. His character 
is admirably described by Von Alpen in his History and 
Literature of the Heidelberg Catechism: "He was a great 
Prince, whose name is dear to the Reformed Church and 
who was the originator of the Heidelberg Catechism ; and 
by its means gave endurance and perpetuity to the Re- 
formed Church. His name can never be forgotten. 
Apart from all the insignia of princely power, he was a 
truly great man. For schools of learning and benevolent 
institutions he did more than all his predecessors had ef- 
fected. The entire revenue of the suppressed convents 
was devoted to these objects. He renounced the customary 
pomp of the court, and introduced a simple style of living, 
in order to enable him to devote twenty thousand ducats 
of his yearly revenues to the endowment of seats of 
learning and charitable institutions. With a diligence 
that never abated, he proved the systems of doctrine 
which then divided religious attention, and adhered with 
warm unshaken devotion to that form of faith which, 
after painful and earnest thought, he had adopted as 
THE TRUTH." 

When he entered upon his reign he found not only 
his own province, but all Europe, the Germans and the 
Swiss in particular, engaged in a bitter theological con- 
troversy. The question at issue was the doctrine of the 
Lord's Supper, which was the original cause of division 
between Luther and Zwingli. The Lutherans were them- 



36 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



selves divided into two groups — the ultra-Lutherans and 
the Melancthonians. The latter, on account of their lean- 
ing towards Calvin in their views of the Lord's Supper, 
were denounced as Crypto-Calvinists. The Reformed 
were, also, divided into two classes, known as Zwinglians 
and Calvinists ; commonly, however, the distinction be- 
tween the two was not sharply made by the Germans. 

The Reformation in the Palatinate from its begin- 
ning was under the influence of Melancthon, who was a 
native of Bretten and who, since 1545, was the confiden- 
tial adviser of the electors in all measures of reform. 
When, therefore, the Augsburg Confession was accepted 
by the Palatinate Church, it was the. Confession as al- 
tered by Melancthon, who, in 1540, undertook to amend 
the original Confession of 1530, especially in the article 
on the Lord's Supper. The amended form was an 
approach toward the Calvinistic theory of the Sacra- 
ment. Thus the Lutheranism of the Palatinate was of 
a mild and conciliatory type, and, in a way, a preparation 
for a transition to Calvinism or the doctrines of the 
Reformed Church. 

The princes and provinces of Germany were at this 
time divided into two unequal groups by the religious 
question. The ultra-Lutherans, who contended for the 
unmodified doctrines of Luther as embodied in the 
original Augsburg Confession of 1530, prevailed in 
Thuringia, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg and Pomer- 
ania; John Frederick of Saxony was their leader among 
the princes, and the L T niversity of Jena their theological 
center. The princes who championed a liberal Luther- 
anism, known also as Melancthonianism, were the electors 
of Saxony and of the Palatinate, the Landgrave Philip of 
Hesse, and the dukes of Wiirtemberg and Zweibrticken. 
Melancthon, in his zeal to heal the breach between the 



THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE 37 

Lutherans and the Reformed, modified the doctrine 
of the Lord's Supper in new editions of the Augsburg 
Confession, so that it might be acceptable to the Germans 
and the Swiss. He came into substantial agreement with 
Calvin on the Sacrament, since the latter had, also, devi- 
ated from the Zwinglian view and in some respects ap- 
proached the Lutheran doctrine. Yet neither Melanc- 
thon nor any of the German princes or theologians was 
prepared to profess himself a Calvinist. Many of them, 
indeed, confounded Calvinism with Zwinglianism and 
considered it a detestable Swiss sect. Most of them, the 
Elector Frederick included, accepted the Augsburg Con- 
fession in its altered form, especially that of 1540. 

The conditions were at hand for a bitter theological 
controversy, which ended in Frederick's conversion to 
the Reformed faith. Even in the reign of the broad- 
minded Otho Henry, men of different theological ten- 
dencies were chosen to office in Church and State. The 
Palatinate bordered on Switzerland and was close to 
France, which made it both natural and easy for the 
theologians to find entrance into positions of prominence 
in the court and university circles of Heidelberg. Be- 
sides, Melancthon, who was the adviser of Otho, recom- 
mended men, regardless of nationality or of theological 
tendencies, provided they were otherwise fitted for the 
position. 

Among the officers, ecclesiastical and civil, before 
Frederick's succession to the throne, were the Court- 
Judge (Hofrichter) Erasmus von Venningen and the 
Chancellor von Minkwitz, strict Lutherans; Count 
George of Erbach and Marschal Hans Pleickard Land- 
schad, who were Melancthonians ; while Count Valentine of 
Erbach and the Councillors Dr. Philip Heyles, Sebastian 
Heuring, Christopher Probus, and the private secretary 



38 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



Cirler were inclined to the Reformed doctrine. In the 
Consistory the different parties were represented. The 
General Superintendent Hesshus was a Lutheran of the 
straitest sort, the Court Preacher Diller a mediationalist, 
and Thomas Erastus, Christopher Ehem (Oheim) and 
Michael Benther were Reformed. In the University the 
opponents of ultra-Lutheranism had a majority. In the 
theological faculty the Frenchman Boquin was a zealous 
Calvinist. 

In the first years of his reign the Elector Frederick 
appointed other men from different lands, each adding 
strength to one or the other party. W enceslaus Zuleger, 
a student of theology and jurisprudence in Geneva, and 
of course a Calvinist, was chosen president of the Con- 
sistory. One of the first acts of Zuleger was to invite 
to Heidelberg a young man destined to play a prominent 
part in the church of the Palatinate — Caspar Olevianus. 
At first he served as professor in the Sapienz College, 
then as third theological professor in the University, but 
he soon found his most congenial sphere in the pulpit and 
in the Consistory. Early in 1561 Emmanuel Tremeliius, a 
learned Italian and a convert of the Reformed Church in 
Switzerland, was appointed to the chair of Old Testament 
exegesis. Peter Dathenus, of the Netherlands, also 
Reformed, became tutor to the princes and a member of 
the Consistory. In December, 1561, the theological 
faculty acquired one of its most distinguished members 
in Zacharias Ursinus of Breslau, a favorite disciple of 
Melancthon, a resident for some time in Zurich and 
Geneva, and inclined toward the doctrines of Calvin. In 
the few years which followed, the Calvinistic party was 
increased by the arrival of Lambert Pithopous of De- 
venter, and Francis Zanchius of Alzano. Theologically 
the leaders in Church and State in Heidelberg, about 



THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE 39 

1560-63, may be grouped under four heads — the Luther- 
ans, the Melancthonians, the Zwinglians, the Calvinists. 
Each school differed from the others on certain major 
or minor points. But when the crisis came in the con- 
troversy, the Melancthonians, Zwinglians, and Calvin- 
ists united as one man against the extreme and violent 
Lutheranism of Hesshus. Hesshus, the General Super- 
intendent, believed himself called into the kingdom for 
such time as this. He was by temperament, training and 
conviction, a controversialist and a stern champion of 
orthodoxy. The controversy began in a disagreement 
between himself and Klebitz, a deacon in the church at 
Heidelberg. Hesshus charged Bernard Hexammer, a 
professor at Edenkoben, with holding Zwinglian views, 
and refuted certain doctrines which he maintained were 
held by Calvin and Zwingli. Klebitz reproached the 
Superintendent with misrepresenting these doctrines. 
The private controversy was the spark which burned into 
a flame and spread over all Heidelberg. The already 
existing parties took sides, three of them consolidating 
against Hesshus. In the absence of the Elector at Augs- 
burg, Hesshus took the controversy out of the lecture 
room and council chamber into the pulpit. He con- 
demned not only Klebitz as a heretic, but also the pro- 
fessors of the University and even the Magistrate of the 
City. In vain did the electoral Mayor command a cessa- 
tion of hostilities until Frederick should return. Hesshus 
placed both the Mayor and the Deacon under the ban of 
the Church. He spurned the offers of mediation for 
peace by the more moderate men. When the Elector 
returned, he was equally powerless to quell the disturb- 
ance. He dismissed both Hesshus and Klebitz, in order 
that peace might be restored. He sent to Melancthon 
for counsel, and at his suggestion he introduced a modi- 



4 o THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



fled formula of the Lord's Supper; but the Lutheran 
zealot remained intractable. A number of ministers and 
civil officers were requested to resign or were dismissed, 
so that the influence of the extremists was reduced and 
the strength of the moderate Lutherans was increased. 
All this time, however, the Elector was a loyal Lutheran 
of the Melancthonian type and gave no evidence of a 
direct leaning toward Calvinism. 

To trace the course of events which led up to the 
request for the preparation of a new catechism, we shall 
have to consider the steps in Frederick's transition from 
the Lutheran to the Reformed Faith. 

He was born a Catholic, February 14, 15 15, married 
in 1537 a princess of the house of Brandenburg-Kulm- 
bach, a devout Lutheran and a woman of rare gifts. 
Little is known of the first 20 years of his married life, 
which he spent in privacy in the castle of Birkenfeld, 
while his father was on the throne. Certain it is, how- 
ever, that a few years after his marriage, under the 
influence of his wife, he turned from Catholicism to 
Lutheranism. The change brought upon him the dis- 
pleasure of his father, who reduced his annual income 
to such an extent that he actually felt the pinch of pov- 
erty in his growing family. Elated as his wife must 
have been by his conversion, she was no less chagrined 
when Frederick was infected with the "poison of Cal- 
vinism." In vain did she throw every possible safe- 
guard around him so as to prevent his acceptance of the 
Reformed faith; yet, in the end, in spite of her early 
training and her strong prejudices, she became a Calvin- 
ist herself. 

When he acceded to the throne, the Elector was a 
Lutheran, by nature moderate and averse to sects and 
factions, and bent upon maintaining the unity of Pro- 



THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE 41 



testantism in Germany. He looked upon the Zwinglians 
and Calvinists as sectarians, though he was tolerant to- 
ward them. The unreasonable stubbornness of Hesshus 
and his party, however, was a great offense to Frederick, 
who was disposed to find a mediating formula which 
would reconcile the different Lutheran groups in his own 
realm and in Germany throughout. He was in full 
accord with Melancthon's ''Opinion" (Gutachten, 1560), 
in which document the Reformer proposed a consensus 
formula on the Lord's Supper and expressed the hope 
that the controversy on both sides might be ended by its 
adoption. "Whosoever will not be satisfied with such a 
solution may be at liberty to have his own opinion, but 
let him forever hold his peace among the people." 

Frederick, however, did not blindly follow the coun- 
sel of Melancthon. He became a close student of the 
Scriptures and of theology. He believed that, though 
he was only "a poor simple layman" (ein armer ein- 
fdltiger Laye), with the aid of the Holy Spirit he might, 
by prayer and patient search for the truth, understand 
the questions at issue as well as did the learned doctors. 
Often a whole day long and far into the night he read the 
Bible and theological writings. His Marschall boasted 
that "his godly devout master sacrificed sleep, health, and 
pleasure that he might find truth." 

A series of events, doubtless, had profound influence 
in preparing the Elector for his final transition to Cal- 
vinism. He was repelled by the bigotry and intolerance 
of the ultra-Lutherans, Hesshus and his school. The 
disputation at Heidelberg (1560) between the Lutheran 
Stossel and the Calvinist Boquin, on the doctrine of the 
Lord's Supper, seems to have disposed him more favor- 
ably to the positions held by Boquin, though he did not 
at once become a Calvinist. He still adhered to the 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



moderate type of Lutheranism. Two months after the 
disputation he issued a decree that all the preachers who 
refused to accept Melancthon's formula on the Lord's 
Supper should be dismissed. 

At the Naumberg Diet of German Princes (1561), 
which was called to heal the divisions in German Luther- 
anism, Frederick finally defended the modified form of 
the Augsburg Confession. His eyes were opened to 
the fact that the original Confession of 1530, in the doc- 
trine on the Lord's Supper, was "papistic." Though 
the majority of the princes were under the influence of 
theologians who considered Art. 10 (on the Lord's 
Supper) in the altered Augsburg Confession of 1540 
an apostasy from true Lutheranism, the Elector re- 
iterated his demand for the adoption of the latter as a 
basis of union between all parties. After days of argu- 
ment and conference the majority of the members of 
the Diet subscribed, largely under Frederick's leadership, 
the Augsburg Confession as interpreted by Melancthon 
in its later editions. In this sense the Elector ever after- 
wards was true to the Confession, yet always with the 
proviso that "it contains nothing that does not agree 
with the Scriptures" — "the first step," says Kluckhohn, 
"towards a truly Reformed point of view." 

About this time (1560-61) the Elector came more 
directly under the influence of men of Reformed convic- 
tions. Some of these, like Boquin, Diller, Erastus, Pro- 
bus, Ehem, and Cirler, had already been called to Heidel- 
berg by Otho Henry; others, like Zuleger, Olevianus, 
Ursinus, and Dathenus, came during the reign of Fred- 
erick. He availed himself of their counsel, listened 
attentively to their sermons, and read their writings. He 
purposely avoided the works of Zwingli and Calvin, but 
entered into personal relations with Theodore Beza, who 



THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE 43 



came to Heidelberg as early as 1559. Bullinger, of 
Zurich, also, became his friend and guide. Yet, at no 
time was Frederick a blind follower. He was open- 
minded, ready to hear every side of a question, and even- 
tually reached his own conclusions. 

In less than a year after the Naumburg Diet, Fred- 
erick took measures toward introducing the Reformed 
faith and worship into his provinces. The steps in the 
process of transition were the following: — 

1. Images were removed from the churches, even 
the statue at the tomb of Philip, in the Church of the 
Holy Ghost, was veiled with a dark cloth, the frescoes 
were covered with white-wash, the organs were closed, 
in place of altars tables were installed, the baptis- 
mal fonts had to give way to zinc vessels, and the com- 
munion chalices to ordinary cups. Bread, broken in the 
distribution, took the place of the wafers in the Lord's 
Supper — a practice considered an innovation and an in- 
dubitable evidence of conversion to Calvinism. 

2. In the same year (1562) in which the worship 
in the churches was changed, the Elector sanctioned the 
publication of a book by Thomas Erastus, A Thorough 
Treatise, hozv the words of Christ: this is My Body, are 
to be understood. The name of the author, however, 
was withheld. It was a comprehensive statement of the 
Reformed doctrine as it was later embodied in the 
Heidelberg Catechism. 

3. The last step toward Calvinism was taken 
by the Elector when he ordered the publication of 
the Heidelberg Catechism in 1563. This was followed 
by four documents completing the reorganization 
of the Church of the Palatinate: — a Marriage Order 
(Bheordnung) , July 12, 1563, Church Order (Kirchen- 
ordnung), November 15, 1563, Consistorial Order 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



(Kirchenraths-Ordnung) , 1564, and the Edict on Church 
Discipline, 1570. "Frederick," concludes Kluckhohn, 
"became a Calvinist, constrained by the condition of 
affairs and by his own disposition ; to himself, however, 
it was not clear that he had made the change.' , 

Why did Frederick become a Calvinist? The answer 
to this question requires a consideration of the natural 
disposition of the Elector and of the difference between 
the Lutheran and the Reformed doctrine and piety. 
The point in immediate controversy between the theo- 
logians and princes of Germany was the doctrine of the 
Lord's Supper. This, however, was only symptomatic 
of a fundamental difference in the genius of the two 
branches of Protestantism, the one led by Luther and 
the other by Calvin. For, even though Melancthon and 
Calvin substantially agreed on the sacraments, in other 
respects the ultra-Lutherans were nearer to the Calvinists 
than to the Melancthonians. It was significant, indeed, 
that one of the first attacks on the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism came from Wittenberg, the center of the Melanc- 
thonian school. Frederick himself, however, did not 
pretend to set aside the Augsburg Confession in its modi- 
fied form, even when he became Reformed. When he 
entered the diet of Augsburg (1566) to make his mem- 
orable defense of "his Catechism," his son, Prince Casi- 
mir, carried after him a copy of the Bible and of the 
Augsburg Confession. He and his followers considered 
the transition to Calvinism not a renunciation of the Con- 
fession, but a consistent application of it — a completion of 
the reformation of Luther. From this time on the Cal- 
vinists in Germany were wont to boast of their Church as 
having "the truly and really reformed religion," in con- 
trast to the Lutheran Church. The term "Reformed" had 
its point turned against the Lutherans rather than against 



THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE 45 



the Catholics. Whether the Elector was consistent in 
his attempt to adhere both to the altered Augsburg Con- 
fession and to the Heidelberg Catechism is a debatable 
question. Prof. Miiller, a Reformed theologian of the 
University of Erlangen and occupying the chair of Eb- 
rard, says: "While the Reformed Churches recognized 
and accepted the evangelical doctrines of the Confession 
in general, yet the Augustana, especially the Variata, is 
unjustly designated as a Reformed confession." 

The difference on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, 
which divided the Lutheran Church at this time into 
two schools, may be shown most clearly by a quotation 
of the 10th article of the Augsburg Confession in its 
original form of 1530, and in its modified form of 1540. 

article: X. OF the lord's suppkr 

"Of the Supper of the Lord they teach that the body 
and blood of Christ are truly present and are communi- 
cated to those who eat in the Lord's Supper. And they 
disapprove of those that teach otherwise." 

In the edition of 1540 the 10th article is changed so 
as to read : "Of the Lord's Supper they teach that with 
the bread and zvine the body and blood of Christ are 
truly exhibited to those zvho eat in the Lord's Supper." 
The disapproval of other views is omitted. (Schaff's 
Creeds of Christendom, III. p. 13.) 

It was for the latter view that Frederick so persis- 
tently contended before the Naumburg Diet (1561). In 
an address before that assembly, by which he won the 
admiration of his auditors, he made clear his view on 
the Sacrament. He held that in the Lord's Supper the 
true body and blood of Christ are distributed and re- 
ceived ; that the Lord Christ is truly and essentially pres- 
ent, and with bread and wine, as ordained by Him, gives 



46 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



us Christians His body and His blood to eat and drink. 

In these statements he differentiated himself from 
the Zwinglians on the one hand and from the ultra- 
Lutherans on the other. He had no sympathy for the 
theory, to use his own words, "that the Lord Christ is not 
essentially in the use (Niessung) of the Lord's Supper, 
but that it is all a mere external symbol by which Chris- 
tians are to be recognized." In these words he disclaims 
Zwinglianism. He differed from the strict Lutherans 
in denying that the body and blood of Christ are received 
through the mouth and even by unbelievers — both of 
which were criteria of sound orthodoxy. 

He was in full accord with the Heidelberg theo- 
logians, who taught that Christ, since His ascension, is at 
the right hand of God, and therefore with His true body 
— i.e. the crucified body — is not now on earth, but in 
heaven, where He will remain until He comes to judg- 
ment. Yet the believers, in the reception of the Lord's 
Supper, in which bread and wine are signs and seals, are 
quickened with the body and blood of Christ, through the 
mediation of the Holy Spirit, who unites us in one body. 
This is practically the view of Calvin and was later in- 
corporated in the Heidelberg Catechism. 

The Elector was startled and repelled by the conse- 
quences which often followed, though through misunder- 
standing, the strict Lutheran doctrine. This served to 
convince him that Luther had remained too close to the 
Catholic doctrine of the Sacrament. Even when Catho- 
licism had been abolished, the Catholic ideas continued 
under the forms of Lutheranism. The Lutheran West- 
phal went so far as to demand the adoration of the host ; 
another of the same school gathered with the greatest 
care the crumbs which had fallen to the floor in the 
distribution of the bread, and burned them; a third con- 



THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE 47 



sidered it an offense worthy of divine punishment, if a 
single drop of wine in the cup was spilled. The people 
did not cease to adore the host as the body of the Lord, 
and when they could not partake of it, they were satisfied 
to behold it from afar. 

The whole nature of Frederick revolted from such a 
deification of the creature or a materialization of the 
Creator. By intuition, if not by a study of their writ- 
ings, he shared with Zwingli and Calvin the sublime ideal 
of living for the honor and majesty of God. In this 
respect, we may say, he was born a Calvinist before he 
was converted to the Reformed faith. 

The ethical and religious bent of his mind, also, pre- 
disposed him to Reformed doctrines. Zanchius in a 
letter, November 14, 1558, declared that the difference 
between the Lutheran and the Reformed Church was, that 
the former stood for the word of Luther (quia scilicet sic 
D. Pater Lutherus interpretatus est), while the latter 
stood by the word of God (Gillet, Crato von Crafftheim, 
II., 108). Whether this distinction can be theoretically 
maintained may be a question, but that Frederick himself 
had a similar view appears from an assertion in a letter 
to his son-in-law John Frederick, March 10, 1561 : "This, 
one shall and must believe, as if it was Gospel, because 
Dr. Luther wrote it." The tendency to emphasize unduly 
the authority of men to the neglect of the divine word 
the Elector opposed; and in his opposition he was con- 
firmed by the theologians and writings of the Reformed 
Church. 

After the diet of Naumberg he came to see more and 
more clearly that the original Reformers, Luther and 
Melancthon, even in the most weighty doctrines, came 
gradually to a knowledge of the truth. In the beginning 
they were often misled by errors, though they believed 



48 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



themselves to have discovered the truth. In the original 
form of the Augsburg Confession, for example, the doc- 
trine on the Lord's Supper is still "papistic." These rem- 
nants of Catholicism, however, were eliminated by Mel- 
ancthon in the later editions — an evidence that the truth 
was gradually comprehended and that the only reliable 
authority is the unchangeable word of God. True to 
this principle, Frederick reached the conclusion that just 
as Melancthon improved on Luther and both passed 
from one stage of development to another, so there was 
in the Reformed doctrine and life an advance, under the 
guidance of Scripture, beyond Lutheranism and Melanc- 
thonianism ; though he did not minimize for a moment 
the greatness of these distinguished men of God. 

Another marked difference between the two churches 
is that the Lutheran is primarily contemplative, the Re- 
formed practical. In the one the heart (Gemiith) is 
supreme; in the other, the will. The Lutheran finds 
satisfaction in a contemplation of the perfection of Christ 
and in a sense of mystical union with Him. The Re- 
formed, on the contrary, finds in his faith — i.e. in his 
relation to the enthroned Christ — a powerful motive to 
bring the secular and social order into conformity with 
the words of God, for the honor and glory of His name. 

Frederick was by nature disposed to a life of practical 
activity far more than to devout contemplation. Accord- 
ing to the righteousness of the law he was blameless, 
and lived an exemplary life before his people. He 
could not tolerate a religion without a strong ethical 
demand on its adherents. He applied the test not only 
of orthodoxy, but also of morality. "By their fruits 
you shall know them. ,, In this regard he found the 
genius of the Reformed Church superior to that of the 
Lutheran. On this point a significant statement is made 



THE REFORMATION IN THE PALATINATE 49 



in Moeller's Church History (III. p. 300) : "Immedi- 
ately after Melancthon's death, Calvin's spirit carried on 
an increasingly perceptible propaganda in Germany; as 
early as 1561 the acute Canisius wrote to Hosius: Cal- 
vmus Lutherum suppressions videtur non solum in 
Gallia, sed etiam in Germania. (Calvin seems about 
to supersede Luther not only in Gaul but even in 
Germany.) The University of Geneva exercised 
increasing power of attraction. The fact that in that 
city a far stricter discipline prevailed than in the 
German colleges, came to be regarded by earnest minds 
as by no means a contemptible recommendation of 
Calvinism itself. In addition, it will be observed that 
Calvinism found a soil, chiefly and at first, in that part 
of Germany which was most developed in the matter 
of culture, namely, the West ; its propaganda in the East 
was limited preponderatingly to definite strata of the 
higher classes (court circles, higher officialdom, the 
Humanists), to which it partly forced its way together 
with the preference shown for the French language and 
to which it recommended itself as something finer and 
imported, in contrast to the coarser Lutheranism." 

Frederick more than once alludes in his letters to the 
moral indifiference among the German evangelicals. 
He deplores their lack of charity toward one another; 
their opponents may well say that they cannot recognize 
in them the chief mark of the disciples of Christ — 
love for one another. He predicts the just punish- 
ment of God upon those who hold the Augsburg Con- 
fession in high honor and yet gormandize, carouse, com- 
mit adultery, blaspheme, gamble, covet, practice usury, 
etc., as if they were free to \ live according to their 
pleasure. 

In lands where the Reformed Church was established 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



he found a far higher form of life. The Huguenots in 
France "are more sincere than the Germans, because 
they remain true in persecution, which is by no means the 
least test, and they have love toward one another, the 
surest evidence of the spirit of Christ." "The Germans 
have hitherto sat among roses; the Huguenots in blood, 
so that the Scripture is fulfilled in them : 'Through great 
tribulations you shall enter the kingdom.' " 

Disposed as he was toward a practical and ethical 
type of religious life, Frederick naturally inclined toward 
the Reformed Church. Here he found a simplicity, an 
ethical enthusiasm, strictness of discipline, and a loyalty 
to the Word, which satisfied the inmost longings of his 
nature and brought out all the more clearly the contrast 
between Lutheranism and Calvinism. He made the Bible 
the rule of his life and of his realm. The Ten Command- 
ments are not only rigorously interpreted, but practically 
applied. Every attempt to represent the Deity by pic- 
tures and images is forbidden, and all remnants of Cath- 
olic or Lutheran idolatry are removed from the churches. 
The prohibitions of idolatry in the Old Testament he 
considered still in force, and as a prince, in the name of 
God proceeded to destroy the idols in his territory. 
Thus he hoped to turn the hearts of men from the 
creature to the Creator, from all forms of material 
mediation to an immediate fellowship with God in spirit 
and in truth. 



CHAPTER IV 



PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION OF THE 
HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

IN the second chapter we discussed the preliminary 
works of Ursinus — Summa Theologiae and Cate- 
chesis Minor. Quirinus Reuter, pupil and successor 
of Ursinus, in his edition of the works of Olevianus, pub- 
lished 1612, describes the mode of procedure in the mak- 
ing of the Heidelberg as follows: "Both catechisms of 
Ursinus were submitted to those who had been appointed. 
Both were approved, but only from the Smaller Cate- 
chism was the larger part taken over into the New Cate- 
chism, published by the authorities in 1563." Contrary to 
the current tradition of the origin of the Catechism, taken 
from Alting's History of the Palatinate Church, Olevianus 
did not prepare a preliminary sketch, and the Heidelberg 
is not the work of one or two men, but a product of the 
cooperation of a number of men. Ursinus himself gives 
proof of this fact when he says, in the preface of his 
Apology of the Heidelberg Catechism, that the work was 
entrusted "to certain devout men famous for their erudi- 
tion in Christian doctrine." Olevianus, also, in a letter to 
Calvin, speaks of a number of authors of the Catechism, 
and in another letter to Bullinger he mentions Erastus 
among his colleagues, as having rendered valuable aid. 
In addition to these witnesses, the testimony of the Elector 
in the preface of the first edition, that the whole theologi- 
cal faculty, all the superintendents and the most prominent 
ministers of the Palatinate offered counsel and made em- 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



endations, conclusively proves that the work is a collabora- 
tion of a group of men rather than an original product 
of a single mind. Yet, after all is said, the Church is 
mostly indebted to the genius of Ursinus and Olevianus. 
From the Elector's statement in the preface we infer that 
the preliminary tracts of Ursinus were submitted to a 
committee for revision and reconstruction. The commit- 
tee consisted of "the theological faculty," which was then 
composed of Boquin, Tremellius, and Ursinus, of "all the 
Superintendents," among whom Olevianus was the leader, 
and of "the most prominent ministers of the Palatinate." 
The last clause suggests the Consistory (Kirchenrath) , in 
which there were 6 members: Olevianus, Boquin, Diller, 
Zuleger, Cirler, Erastus. Others, like the Vice-Chan- 
cellor Ehem, may have been present, and without doubt 
the Elector himself took an active part in the work. 

The Catechesis Minor was made the basis of revision. 
Its threefold division and about 90 questions were 
adopted. Many of the answers were modified, some 
divided into two or three parts. While the general out- 
line of the preliminary draft was preserved, it was elabor- 
ated in an original way. These changes have been des- 
scribed in the second chapter. After the committee had 
finished its work, the draft, as altered and amended, was 
apparently referred to Olevianus for final revision and for 
translation into German. He was a practical preacher, 
far more than an erudite scholar, a man of action and elo- 
quence, "in whom imagination and pathos combined to 
clothe the logic of religion with beauty as well as power." 
A comparison of the language and style of the Catechism 
in its German form with the Church Order and devotional 
writings of Olevianus clearly shows the touch of the same 
hand in both compositions. He transformed the dry doc- 
trinal language of the Catechesis Minor, as it came from 



I 



PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION 



the pen of a profound theological professor, into the spon- 
taneous, warm, experimental, and epigrammatic expres- 
sion of a personal testimony of salvation, as it is embodied 
in the questions and answers of the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism. He breathed into it the breath of life and it 
became a living soul. He apparently formulated the 
answer to Question 27, on the Providence of God, and the 
answer to the first Question, on the Comfort of the Chris- 
tian. Gooszen, however, suggests that the Elector him- 
self might have expressed his profound confidence in 
God and in the saving power of Christ in similar lan- 
guage. Through the influence of Olevianus the 80th 
Question was inserted in the second edition of the Cate- 
chism. For, in a letter to Calvin, April 3, 1563, he says : 
"In the first German edition, which we sent to Scringer, 
the question about the difference between the Lord's 
Supper and the mass was omitted. Admonished by me, 
the Prince ordered it to be added in the second German 
and the first Latin edition." 

The Elector himself was by no means a mere passive 
spectator, but he took an active part in the arrange- 
ment and perfection of the Catechism. In a declaration 
of the Heidelberg theologians we are told that the au- 
thors "did not venture to insert anything which the 
Elector had not approved." When, during the Diet of 
Augsburg, 1566, he was accused of having his Catechism 
and liturgy made in Zurich by Bullinger and his asso- 
ciates, he replied: "This I can publicly demonstrate to 
be a lie, for I can prove by my own handwriting that, 
after having received my Catechism from my theologians, 
and having read it, I corrected it in several parts." We 
have direct evidence of the change of at least one ques- 
tion (78) at the instance of Frederick. In a Memorial 
written by himself he says: "The answer in the Cate- 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



chism on the question, 'Do then the bread and wine be- 
come the real body and blood of Christ?' was originally 
in these words: 'Just as little as before, the body of 
Christ became real and natural bread when he called 
himself the true Bread, and yet his words were perfectly 
true.' This answer is taken almost word for word 
from the Greek discourses of Theodoret; but it was 
changed and put into its present form in order to avoid 
the impression that it was intended to represent the 
Sacrament as a mere emblem or sign; if this Catechism 
might be adopted with this single alteration, I should 
not only be content, but I believe it would conduce to 
the glory of God as well as afford me peculiar pleasure." 
The immediate purpose for the alteration of this answer 
was probably his desire to conciliate as far as possible 
his Lutheran subjects, who were stubbornly opposed to 
turning the Sacrament into "a mere emblem or sign." 
Other changes in the sacramental questions, by which 
certain Reformed ideas were eliminated, indicate the 
same mediational tendency. 

After the Catechism had been finally revised, it was 
laid by the Elector before a Synod convened at Heidel- 
berg, not, as formerly supposed, late in the autumn of 
1562, but in January, 1563. In a contemporaneous docu- 
ment the proceedings of the Synod are described as fol- 
lows : "Subjects treated at Heidelberg eight days in 
succession. All superintendents were called together, 
separate quarters were provided for them. Then a new 
catechism was submitted to them in which the ten com- 
mandments have a new numbering. This Catechism was 
adopted, approved of, and subscribed to, by all the super- 
intendents from the country districts, the preachers of the 
court and of the city of Heidelberg. For further con- 
firmation all the members of the Synod participated in 



PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION 



the Lord's Supper on Sunday, January 17th. On the 
18th of January the Elector asked them to appear in his 
chancery, where he addressed them as follows : 'We have 
been informed that you have given your unanimous 
approval. This pleases us very much, it is our wish that 
you will faithfully adhere to it.' " 

On Tuesday, January 19th, the Elector wrote the 
preface of the Catechism. It is a beautiful testimony 
to Frederick's high sense of responsibility for the re- 
ligious welfare of his people and of his desire to publish 
an accredited form of doctrine which might work peace 
and harmony in the Church of his realm. It is written 
in a stately and involved German style. An English 
translation of it is printed with the facsimile of the origi- 
nal edition of the Catechism appended to this volume. 

Joshua Lagus, a preacher at Heidelberg, and Lambert 
Pithopous, a school teacher, were commissioned to trans- 
late the German edition into Latin, in order that it 
might be used in the Latin schools, gymnasia, and col- 
leges of the Palatinate. The first edition in German 
was issued from the press no later than February, for in 
that month the Emperor Maximilian, then at Augsburg, 
received from the Elector a copy, which is still preserved 
in the library at Vienna. "The only authentic, edition," 
says Ailing, "'is the German, in which not only is every- 
thing presented more elegantly, but also with greater im- 
pressiveness and emphasis." This edition had been lost, 
until a copy was discovered in Bremen and published in 
facsimile by Albrecht Wolters, of Bonn, in 1864. A copy 
of the reprint is in the Library of the Thelogical Semi- 
nary of the Reformed Church at Lancaster, Pa. 

The title page contains the following inscription : — 
Catechismus oder Christlicher Under- 
richt wie dcr in Kirchen und Schulen der 



56 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



Churfurstlichen Pfaltz getrieben wirdt. 

Gedruckt in der Churfurstlichen Stad 
Heydelberg durch Johannem Mayer. 1563. 

In 1563 four editions were published, all by Johann 
Mayer of Heidelberg. The first three editions appeared 
under separate bindings (8 vo.), and the 4th was bound 
up (4to.) with the Church Order (completed Nov. 15, 
1563). Incorporated with the Church Order it became, 
by implication as well as by direction, the standard for 
the instruction of youth in churches and schools, for doc- 
trine, worship, preaching, and the sacramental services. 
The ministers were instructed in a rubric of the 
Liturgy, that on Christmas they should so expound "in 
the histories of the birth of Christ the foundation of our 
Salvation, namely, the two natures of Christ, together 
with the benefit we receive from it, as this is explained 
at the end of the first part and the beginning of the 
other part in the catechism." In the 4th edition the 
questions are divided according to the 52 Sundays (after 
the example of the Genevan Catechism, divided into 55 
parts), so that "the minister may preach through the 
Catechism at least once a year." It is, also, required in 
the Church Order that the questions and answers be read 
at least five times a year in the regular services of the 
congregation — the whole Catechism to be read in nine 
Sundays. An appended House-tablet (Haustafcl), con- 
taining "passages in which each one is reminded of his 
calling," was read every tenth Sunday. This tablet is 
not a part of the first three editions, and beyond the 
Palatinate was not accepted as a part of the Catechism. 

The first edition differs in certain essential and non- 
essential points from those which follow. The proof- 
texts of each answer were printed on the margin ; book 
and chapter alone were cited, not the verse. In later edi- 



PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION 



tions some of these texts were omitted as not pertinent, 
and for some questions the number of texts was en- 
larged. The questions are not numbered, as in later 
editions. The most important characteristic of the 
first edition is the absence of the 8oth question, the 
reason for which we shall briefly consider. 

Up to the time of Wolter's publication of the first 
edition (1864), the writers on the Catechism were per- 
plexed by the variations in the 80th question in the ear- 
liest known editions (Tercentenary Edit., Introd. by Dr. 
Nevin, p. 37). The difficulty has been solved by aid of 
the original German form, in which the 80th question 
does not appear at all. In the 2d edition is found the 
following note, on the last page : "What has been over- 
looked in the first edition, especially on page 55, has now 
been added by command of his Electoral Grace/' Turn- 
ing to page 55 of the 2d edition, we find the 80th 
question answered thus : "The Lord's Supper testifies 
to us that we have full forgiveness of all our sins 
by the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ which he himself 
once accomplished on the cross. But the mass teaches 
that the living and the dead have not forgiveness of sins 
through the sufferings of Christ unless Christ is still 
daily offered for them by the priests. And thus the mass 
at bottom is an idolatrous denial of the one sacrifice and 
passion of Jesus Christ." In the 3d edition not only 
the last four words, "and an accursed idolatry," which 
contain the polemical sting, were added, but 27 new 
words (or 7 lines) were interjected. As observed above, 
this question was inserted by order of the Elector 
who was urged on by Olevianus, the real author of the 
answer. 

The motive for the insertion of the question in the 
2d edition and for the addition of the last phrase in the 
3d edition, can only be conjectured. That Olevianus 



58 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



had more or less polemical zeal against Roman Catholic 
practices may be inferred from the strong language used 
in the 30th question, for which he is doubtless responsible. 
The Elector, also, was accustomed, even in his official 
acts, to use against Catholic doctrines and usages such 
terms. The occasion which impelled Olevianus to ad- 
monish the Prince to introduce the 80th Question and at 
the same time constrained the Elector to yield to the ad- 
monition, probably was the report of the decree and can- 
ons on the Sacrifice of the Mass adopted by the Council 
of Trent at the 22d Session, Sept. 17, 1562. In the most 
decided terms the Holy Fathers affirmed transubstantia- 
tion, the adoration of the host, the sacrifice of the mass, 
the withdrawal of the cup from the laity, and the use of 
the Latin language in the mass. To make matters worse 
they pronounced strong anathemas against all those who 
taught contrary doctrines. Rumor of the action prob- 
ably reached Heidelberg about the time the Catechism 
was being published. When the 2d edition was issued, 
the polemical spirit was stirred up in men like Olevianus, 
who could not resist the temptation to answer the Tri- 
dentine Fathers with a counter anathema. Further re- 
flection upon the Catholic canons induced the Elector to 
publish a third edition, in which the 80th question was 
to appear in its revised and final form. The whole pro- 
ceeding was in accord with the spirit of the age, which 
declared itself fortiter in re rather than saaviter in modo. 

Language of equal virulence is found in earlier Protes- 
tant documents. In the Schmalcald Articles, written by 
Martin Luther in 1537, under Article II., we read the fol- 
lowing of the mass : "That the Mass in the Papacy must 
be the greatest and most horrible abomination/' etc.; 
and, further on, "Beyond all things, this dragon's tail 
(I mean the Mass) has produced manifold abominations 



PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION 



and idolatries." Even the mild Otho Henry permitted 
the following statement in his Church Order: "From all 
this it is clear that there is much error and idolatry in 
the Popish mass." 

Scholars differ in their estimate of Question 80. 
Prof. Ullman says: "It went in its polemical sharpness 
too far, and even in the rough dialect of its age cannot 
be fully excused." "In any view the appendix," says 
Dr. Nevin, "was in bad taste ; and it proved to be after- 
ward for the Reformed Church of the Palatinate a source 
of no small trouble and harm." Pastor Couard, in a re- 
cent pamphlet on the Heidelberg and the Small Lutheran 
Catechism, says: "The addition of this question cannot 
be justified under any circumstances." We are somewhat 
surprised to hear Prof. Lang, one of the greatest living 
authors on the Catechism, say: "The sharp tone of its 
polemics against Rome enhances, in my estimation, the 
value of the Catechism." 



CHAPTER V 



THE RECEPTION OF THE HEIDELBERG 
CATECHISM 

HE publication of the Heidelberg Catechism stirred 



X up a wide-spread sensation in the German 
churches, especially among the theologians and princes. 
It won ardent friends and made bitter foes; it was de- 
nounced by these and eulogized by those. Throughout 
the Palatinate it was introduced into churches and 
schools without opposition. The Elector ordered that 
instruction in the Catechism be given by the preachers 
from the pulpit every Sunday afternoon. When the 
Palatinate theologians attended the Synod of Dort 
(1619), they reported that the congregations were di- 
vided into 3 classes for catechetical instruction: boys 
and girls ; young men and women ; aged men and women. 



Its adoption in the Palatinate aroused both political 
and theological opposition. The first opponents, how- 
ever, were not Catholics but Lutherans, not theologians 
but princes. The Emperor and the German princes con- 
sidered it a breach of the Peace of Augsburg, 1555, which 
recognized the Catholic and the Lutheran faith, but dis- 
owned the Reformed and the Anabaptist. By publishing 
doctrines contrary to the Augsburg Confession the 




I 



ATTACKS 



THE RECEPTION 



61 



Elector jeopardized the unity of German Protestantism, 
put himself beyond the protection of the Emperor, and 
was in danger not only of forfeiting his electoral dig- 
nity, but of losing his crown and even his head. 

The civil authorities, probably incited by the theo- 
logians, were not slow in taking Frederick to task for 
his misdeed. The Emperor Maximilian, in his acknowl- 
edgement of the receipt of a copy of the Catechism, dated 
April 25th, 1563, takes occasion to warn the Elector 
that certain of its doctrines bring him under suspicion 
of being in disagreement with the Augsburg Confession, 
and of being too favorably inclined to Zwinglian opin- 
ions, especially in the answers on Holy Baptism, the Holy 
Supper, and the Ascension of our I^ord. Princes hold- 
ing such doctrines, he significantly adds, "can no longer 
count on the protection of the Peace of Augsburg." 

Three of the neighboring rulers, all of them friendly 
to the Elector, drew up an elaborately written opinion on 
the Catechism and sent it to Frederick. It was signed, 
May 4th, 1563, by Wolfgang, Palatine Count of Zwei- 
briicken, Christopher, Duke of Witrtemberg, and Charles 
II., Margrave of Baden. They warned the Elector 
against the dangerous errors lurking in the new cate- 
chism, especially condemning its doctrine of the sacra- 
ments. "We know by the grace of God," they write, 
"that Zwinglianism and Calvinism in the article on the 
Lord's Supper are a seductive and a damned error, di- 
rectly contradicting the holy divine Scriptures, the true 
apostolic Church, the Christian sense of the Augsburg 
Confession, and the generally accepted and defended 
Peace of Augsburg." They enumerate, also, the erro- 
neous views on sin, predestination, and the person of 
Christ. "But, above all, Zwinglianism and Calvinism (as 
examples prove) are a spiritus seditiosus, that, wherever 



62 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



it finds entrance, seeks to gain the upper hand of the 
magistrate, after which rulers must guard themselves 
not only against disturbances from without, but against 
uprisings from within." They conclude by beseeching 
him, in a friendly and fraternal way, that he may join with 
them in maintaining Christian unity and in avoiding di- 
visions among the adherents of the Augsburg Confes- 
sion. The statement of the princes Frederick answered 
in an elaborate defense (Sept. 14, 1563). 

In the interest of peace Prince Christopher of Wur- 
temberg and Frederick ordered a conference of their 
theologians at the Convent of Maulbron in the presence 
of both princes (Apr. 11-15, 1564). The outcome, how- 
ever, was anything but profitable. The wrath of the 
theologians was increased and the friendship of the 
princes was diminished. 

The political issues raised by the publication of the 
Catechism were finally settled in the Diet of Augsburg 
(1566). Frederick, having turned Calvinist, could no 
longer claim the protection of the Religious Peace of 
1555. The princes, spurred on by their theologians, 
united in a systematic effort to dethrone the magnani- 
mous Elector. The occasion for consummating their 
scheme was the diet which the Emperor Maximilian II. 
summoned to meet at Augsburg in the spring of 1566. 
Frederick was warned against attending the diet on ac- 
count of rumors of harm which would befall him. His 
own brother urged him to remain at home. But as 
Luther could not be kept from Worms, Frederick could 
not be dissuaded from attending the diet. 

Frederick appeared, as a second Luther, before the 
diet. The Emperor, more under the influence of Luth- 
eran than Catholic counsel had apparently prejudged the 
case. On a certain day he assembled all the princes and 



THE RECEPTION 



63 



estates of the realm, Frederick among them. Without 
previous deliberation or vote the Emperor read a decree 
in which the Elector Palatine was charged with religious 
innovations, with issuing a catechism not agreeing with 
the Augsburg Confession, and with having introduced 
Calvinism into his domains. All these things Frederick 
was asked to retract and to abolish, on penalty of exclu- 
sion from the peace of the Empire with all its conse- 
quences both for himself and his territory. 

On hearing this the Elector asked permission to with- 
draw for a short time for consideration and decision. In 
about a quarter of an hour he returned, attended by his 
son, Prince Casimir, "his spiritual armor-bearer," 
carrying after him the Bible and the Augsburg Confes- 
sion. Modestly and firmly, in brief, clear, and penetrat- 
ing words, he defended himself against the charges 
brought against him. He reminded the Emperor that 
in matters of faith and conscience he could acknowledge 
but one master, the Lord of lords and King of kings. 
Where the salvation of the soul was in question, it was 
God only who could properly command or be obeyed. 
He was ready, nevertheless, to make answer to his Im- 
perial Majesty, as the case required. Calvin's books he 
had never read, and could not pretend, of course, to 
know exactly what Calvinism was. P>ut he had sub- 
scribed in good faith to the Frankfort Recess, and to 
the Augsburg Confession at Naumburg, along with 
other princes now present; and in that same faith he 
continued, as believing it to be grounded in the Holy 
Scriptures; nor did he believe that any one could con- 
vict him of having swerved from this profession in any- 
thing that he had done. As for his Catechism, it was 
all taken from the Bible and so well fortified with mar- 
ginal proof texts, that it could not be overthrown. What 



6 4 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



he had publicly declared before, he now solemnly pro- 
fessed again in this august assembly: that if any one, 
of whatever order or condition, could show him any- 
thing better from the Scriptures, he would take it as the 
highest favor and willingly yield himself to God's truth. 
Here was the Bible at hand for the purpose; if his 
Majesty, or any of those present, were pleased to do 
him this service, he should have his most hearty thanks. 
Till this were done, he trusted in his Majesty's gracious 
forbearance. Should this expectation be disappointed, 
however, he said in conclusion, he would still comfort 
himself in the sure promise of his Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, made to him as well as to all believers, that 
what he might lose for His name in this life should be 
restored to him a hundred-fold in the next. 

This bold and manly address made a deep impression 
upon the assembly. All were constrained to admire the 
Elector's earnestness and his truly heroic spirit. Augus- 
tus of Saxony was so moved, that he came up to him 
and exclaimed, touching him lightly on the shoulder: 
"Frederick, you are more religious than all of us to- 
gether!" The Margrave of Baden, also, as the conven- 
tion was breaking up, remarked to some of the princes : 
"Why do ye trouble this man? He has more piety than 
the whole of us!" 

It was, in fact, a signal victory over all the plans and 
expectations of his enemies. It was felt among the 
Protestant princes that things were in danger of being- 
carried too far; and, accordingly, when it came to a vote 
on the subject, it was found to be the sense of the 
diet finally, in opposition to the judgment of the Em- 
peror, that the Elector of the Palatinate was still to be 
regarded and treated as belonging to the alliance of the 
Augsburg Confession. In this way the attempt to arm 



THE RECEPTION 



65 



the political power of the Empire against the Heidelberg 
Catechism proved a complete failure. 

The Elector returned to Heidelberg, safe and sound, 
amidst the general joy of his people, on the Friday be- 
fore Whitsuntide. On the evening before the sacred 
festival, being present at the preparation for the com- 
munion in the Church of the Holy Ghost, he grasped 
Olevianus by the hand in view of the whole congregation 
and exhorted him to continue steadfast in the good cause. 
The next day he partook of the Sacrament in company 
with his son, Casimir, and the whole court. 

The theological opposition was perhaps more intense, 
if not more serious, than the political. The wrath of 
theologians may be as bitter as the rage of kings. Doubt- 
less He that sitteth in the heavens has often laughed at 
both. 

The address of the three princes to Frederick, al- 
luded to above, was accompanied by an anonymous tract, 
entitled Verzeichniss der Mangel (A Statement of 
Faults), supposed to have been written by Brentz. From 
a Lutheran viewpoint it is a thoroughgoing criticism of 
the Catechism, setting forth in detail its objectionable doc- 
trines. It passed through a second edition published in 
Wurtemberg. Even the Melancthonian theologians of 
Wittenberg were among the first to come out with an un- 
favorable judgment" against the new Catechism. In 
the preface of his Vindication Ursinus mentions a trea- 
tise by Laurentius Albertius, warning against the poison 
in the Catechism. "Inasmuch as all Christian and sen- 
sible people," Ursinus here says, "were much more dis- 
gusted, not only by his flippant and manifold falsehoods, 
sarcasms, and calumnies, but also by his ungodly and 
monstrous perversion of Christian doctrine, than pre- 
possessed against the truth, which he defamed and 

5 



66 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



scorned like a buffoon and a knave — he may justly be 
regarded as unworthy of any further answer." Another 
of these frivolous antagonists was Francis Balduin, who 
had reverted "to the worship of the Roman Antichrist/' 
A Refutation of a Small Calvinistic Catechism came from 
the champion of ultra-Lutheran orthodoxy, Matthias 
Flacius Illyricus. Only the last named does Ursinus 
condescend to answer in his Vindication, because he re- 
garded him as a typical representative of rigid Luther- 
anism, and his arguments as the strongest that could be 
presented from that standpoint. Hesshus, of course, 
could not remain silent. Though no longer in Heidel- 
berg, but "an exile of Christ/' as he styled himself, he 
issued a True Warning (Feb. 26, 1564), in which he 
contradicted every leading doctrine and indulged in a ti- 
rade against the "fanaticism of bread-breaking." He 
speaks of "almost more than forty persons who have 
their refutations ready." His "Warning," however, was 
ignored by all defenders of the Catechism. Another tract 
worthy of mention was the Censures of the Wurtemberg 
divines, Brentz and Jacob Andreae, in which 18 ques- 
tions were subjected to severe criticism. 

Stronger, more persistent, and more effective than 
these Lutheran attacks was the opposition of the Cath- 
olics. They denounced the whole work but were es- 
pecially embittered by the 80th question. They not only 
criticized the book, but took steps to suppress and destroy 
it. Among the prominent literary combatants were Kop- 
penstein (1621), and Rittmayer, who wrote Catholic Re- 
marks on the Heidelberg Catechism (1707). The ut- 
terance of a Catholic dignitary reveals the temper of 
the leaders towards the Catechism. When Tilly's army 
had taken Heidelberg (1622), the Papal nuncio Mon- 
torio, in his report to Rome, spoke of it as a cause for 



THE RECEPTION 



67 



joy that in the same city from which the norm of the 
Calvinists, the Heidelberg Catechism, had proceeded, "the 
holy mass henceforth would be celebrated, and the true 
faith spread abroad." 

When in 1685 a Catholic line of electors, beginning 
with Philip William, ascended the throne of the Palati- 
nate, the war of extermination was begun in earnest. 
Gradually but surely the rights and privileges of the 
Protestants were restricted and the prerogatives of the 
Catholics were enlarged. The choir of the Garrison 
Church in Heidelberg had to be given over for two years 
to the Catholics, and by 1686 the Jesuits had made their 
abode in the city. The former court preachers of the 
Elector Charles were thrown into prison and condemned 
to ignominious and severe punishment. In 1687 Cath- 
olic worship was generally established. By order of the 
Elector, the Catholics must have free use of the bells 
of the Reformed churches and of the churchyards. 
Processions are held, priests and monks enter the pro- 
vince, and a monastery is built for the Capuchins. The 
Protestants are harassed and insulted in various ways 
by the Catholic authorities. But their attacks were di- 
rected mainly against the Heidelberg Catechism, and the 
80th question in particular. 

The controversy between the Catholics and the Prot- 
estants, the Reformed being in the majority, continued 
with rare intermissions from 1685 to tne reign of Charles 
Philip (1716). Under his administration a terrible tem- 
pest burst upon the adherents of the Catechism. The 
opening of his reign was attended by many beneficial 
regulations, and days of peace and prosperity seemed to 
dawn upon the land. Like a thunderclap from a clear 
sky came the decree (April 4, 1719) of the Elector for- 
bidding his subjects all further use of the Heidelberg 



68 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



Catechism. Notwithstanding the excited protests of the 
people the order was enforced in most places by the 
magistrate. 

Fuel was added to the flames when a Romish pub- 
lisher issued a new edition of the Catechism having on 
the title-page an imprint of the Electoral coat of arms, 
and the words, "with permission of his Highness, the 
Elector." This gave the Papists an opportunity for 
strife. They persuaded the Elector, who was naturally 
of a mild disposition, to issue the following mandate: 
"That in all the Electoral provinces, the Catechism, the 
use of which in the Reformed churches was a source of 
great scandal, and which had been printed in his name 
and with the Electoral arms, should be suppressed, not 
only because this proceeding was impudent, scandalous, 
and worthy of punishment, but also, because the 8oth 
question and other articles were contrary to the Elec- 
tor's majesty, the laws of the realm, and other imperial 
decrees, which had recently been promulgated." The 
Reformed consistories and all subject to them were ad- 
monished to yield obedience to the present order within 
three months at the farthest, and to secure all copies in 
which the 8oth question and other articles were con- 
tained. And in order that this Electoral decree might 
go into force at once, the government issued an order 
to the Reformed Church Council, May 2, in which they 
were commanded to call in all copies of the new edition, 
and, in addition, to take measures that in future no copies 
containing the 80th question and other offensive things 
which were not to be endured, should be brought into 
the Electoral provinces. 

In vain did the Reformed Church Council disclaim 
responsibility for this new edition of the Catechism, ar- 
gue the right of continuing the use of a symbol that had 



THE RECEPTION 



69 



come down from the Reformation, and plead for the 
privileges which the Reformed people enjoyed under the 
preceding Electors. All this and much more they sub- 
mitted to Charles Philip in a written petition accom- 
panied by a verbal message. But nothing was accom- 
plished. The petitioners were informed that the Elec- 
tor's decree was final, and that all those who presumed to 
defend the Catechism were liable to punishment. An 
appeal was taken by the Church Council to the Corpora- 
tion of Evangelical States at Regensburg. The Protes- 
tant powers of Europe, particularly the kings of Eng- 
land and Prussia, the states of Holland and West Fries- 
land, and the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, took a deep interest 
in the Reformed people of the Palatinate. They tried to 
persuade the Elector to withdraw his order. But only 
after several states retaliated by persecuting the Cath- 
olics in their territory was the Palatinate prince brought 
to terms. At the close of 1720 an agreement was finally 
reached by which the Catechism was allowed to the Re- 
formed subjects, without even the omission of the 80th 
question. This settled at last the famous disputes which 
had recurred again and again for so many years. 



II 

DEFENSE 

The attacks on the Catechism called forth many a 
defense. Even in the year of its publication Frederick 
received four Favorable Opinions on the character of 
the new work. The first came from an unknown ad- 
mirer of Melancthon; the second, according to Gooszen, 
from Bullinger, of Zurich; and the last two from 
two Reformed theologians, who apparently came from 



70 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



abroad, and had found a home in the Palatinate. The 
Elector sent these writings with a personal letter to 
the three princes who had warned him against the 
errors of the Catechism. In the letter he boldly affirmed 
his confidence in the sole authority of the Word of God, 
upon which he believed "his Catechism" was based. 

The chief apologist for the Catechism was its prin- 
cipal author — Ursinus. In the spring of 1564 he issued 
three tracts, in which he undertook to answer the objec- 
tions and accusations that had been offered. The first 
two, published in the name of the theological faculty, were 
entitled, Vindication against the unfounded allegations 
and perversions with which the Catechism of Christian 
Doctrine is burdened; written by the Theologians of the 
University of Heidelberg. The Vindication selects the 
criticisms of the champion of orthodoxy, Flacius, as 
most worthy of an answer, for the following reason, 
stated in the preface : "Although three of them have come 
forward with public attacks upon the Catechism, we 
have proposed at this time especially to answer the 
accusation and perversion of the third and last, who has 
set himself forth as a refuter of the Catechism; and 
this, not only because this man is, in his own opinion 
and that of his crew, specially regarded as the only 
steadfast and invincible champion of the truth, whose 
dreams and sophistries the whole world ought to hear 
and accept as the Word of God; but, also, because he 
stepped out last of all, and threw in a heap the best 
armor of all the others, that he might, as he thought, 
do good service against us. Therefore, although he has 
given his name, and supposed that he will earn special 
honor for the victory which, in advance, he assigns to 
himself, we shall not name him, partly, because honest 
people must henceforth be ashamed to have anything 



THE RECEPTION 



71 



to do with him personally, but above all, because we 
wish herewith to answer not only him, but other per- 
verters and defamers of the same ilk." 

The third treatise was a reply to the Censures of 
Brentz and Andreae, entitled, An Answer to the Criticism 
of certain Theologians on the proof-texts from Sacred 
Scriptures, adduced in the margin of the Heidelberg 
Catechism, together with the Answer and Counter-ques- 
tions pertaining to the Lord's Supper. Another work, 
of still greater value, from the hand of Ursinus, was the 
commentary on the Catechism. It contains the sub- 
stance of his annual lectures in the College, which he 
continued up to the year 1627. His pupils, eager to 
preserve the expositions of their master, secured a publi- 
cation of their notes under Ursinus' name. The work 
in this form was unsatisfactory. Pareus, who had heard 
Ursinus, took charge of the different notes of the stu- 
dents, compared, remodeled, and arranged them, and 
gave the lectures a new and reliable form. The title of 
the genuine edition, prepared by Pareus, is : Zachariah 
Ursinus' Body of Christian Doctrine of the Church, Re- 
formed from Popery, containing the Catechetical Expo- 
sitions, variously presented in diverse editions, but now 
finally, and recently, so revised and arranged from 
beginning to end, that it has been regarded as a new 
Work, by David Pareus, zuith a double Index. Ap- 
pended are Catechetical Miscellanies of the first issues, 
revised and improved. Bremen, 1623. 

Henry Alting, after boasting of the number of exposi- 
tions of the Heidelberg Catechism, says : "Among all these 
expositions, those of Ursinus are the first and most ex- 
cellent." 



72 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

III 

THE CATECHISM BEYOND THE PALATINATE 

No sooner was the Catechism published than it won 
many ardent adherents in other lands. The Reformed 
Churches generally gave it a most cordial reception. Of 
special interest is the personal opinion of Bullinger, 
Zwingli's successor in Zurich, who wrote to a friend: 
''I have read the Palatinate Elector Frederick's Cate- 
chism with the greatest avidity, and while reading it, 
I have thanked God, who establishes the work which He 
begins. The order of the book is clear; the contents 
are true, and beautiful, and pious ; with great brevity, 
it comprehends very many and great subjects. It is my 
opinion that no better Catechism has been published." 

By an assembly of exiled Netherlanders in Wesel 
(1568) the Catechism was recommended for use along- 
side of the Genevan Catechism. The Synod of Emden 
( 1 571 ) prescribed it for the German speaking Netherland 
congregations in East Friesland and on the Lower Rhine. 
One German province after the other introduced it — 
Nassau, 1581 ; Tecklenburg, 1584; Anhalt, 1605; Bremen, 
1621 ; Lippe, 1623; Hesse, 1655. "The little book," 
says Wolters, "by the unanimous approval which it met 
with amongst the members of the German Reformed 
Church, knit together their hitherto isolated circles even 
more than the Augsburg Confession had done in earlier 
times, so that they suddenly appeared more united than 
the Lutherans, separated into their two camps" (Ref. 
Gesch. von Wesel, p. 254). 

In Holland it was adopted by the Provincial Synods 
of Dort, 1574, 1578, and Middleburg, 1581, and the 
National Synod of the Hague, 1586. It was used for 
the instruction of children, as a basis for sermons, and as 



THE RECEPTION 



73 



a symbol of faith to which ministers, teachers and magis- 
trates were pledged — a requirement inserted into the 
Church Order of 1586. The great National Synod of 
Dort (1618-19) conferred high honor upon the Cate- 
chism. The divines of nearly all the Reformed Churches 
of Europe, who attended the sessions, examined the book 
with care, approved its doctrines, and declared it a 
standard of faith. In the report of the 143d session 
(May 1, 1619) of the Synod, the following minute is 
found : 

"Doctrinam in Catechesi Palatina comprehensam 
verbo Dei in omnibus esse consentientem, neque ea quid- 
quant contineri, quod ut minus eidem consentaneum 
mutari aut corrigi debere videtur." Freely translated 
this passage reads : "The doctrine contained in the Pala- 
tine Catechism is in all things in harmony with the Word 
of God, nor does it contain anything, which, for want 
of agreement with the same, it seems ought to be cor- 
rected or changed." By this action the Catechism was 
made a symbol of the first rank in the Reformed 
Churches of Europe. More nearly, probably, than any 
other of the many Reformed confessions it became an 
ecumenical standard, binding Reformed Churches of all 
lands into one body, somewhat as the Augsburg Confes- 
sion unites the Lutheran bodies. Prof. Muller in his 
Symbolik says : "Calvin, especially, is the most influential 
bearer of a common Reformed spirit. And among the 
confessions the Heidelberg Catechism enjoys universal, 
if not altogether legal recognition.' , In an article on 
Catechisms in the Real-Encyklopadie, VII, 613, Prof. 
Giider goes a step further and says : "The popular Chris- 
tian consciousness in the whole Protestant Church ap- 
proaches most nearly that standpoint which is the con- 
trolling view of faith in the Heidelberg." 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



It found its way gradually into the Protestant cantons 
of Switzerland. The Reformed Churches of France, 
England, and Scotland held it in high honor, though 
they continued the use of their own catechisms. At an 
early period it was introduced into Hungary and Poland. 
In the former country it was explained in the schools. 
Preachers and teachers, and even students who were 
going to the Universities, were bound, in some instances 
by oath, to adhere with fidelity to the doctrine of the 
Scriptures as contained in the Heidelberg Catechism. 

The Catechism has symbolical value in the Reformed 
Church in the United States, in the Reformed Church in 
America, and in the Holland Christian Reformed Church 
in the United States. 

The numerous translations bear testimony to its 
worth. "No catechism or confession," as Dr. Nevin sug- 
gests, "has enjoyed such a truly pentecostal 'gift of 
tongues.' It has been translated into Latin, Greek,. 
Dutch, Spanish, French, English, Italian, Bohemian, 
Polish, Hungarian, Hebrew, Arabic, Malay, Singalese, 
and Japanese. In the languages of the nations the Cate- 
chism declares 'the mighty works of God.' " 



PART II 



CHAPTER VI 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES OF THE HEIDEL- 
BERG CATECHISM 

^T* HE Catechism was prepared, as stated in its preface, 



A not only "for instruction in Christian doctrine in 
churches and schools; but that preachers and teachers 
may have a sure and fixed form and rule for the instruc- 
tion of youth, and not make daily changes at their pleas- 
ure or introduce contrary doctrine/' The effort to con- 
form to this twofold design — a catechism and a rule 
of faith — doubtless accounts for both its merits and its 
faults. Intended, as it was, to be also a standard of 
doctrine, it became necessary not only to make an elab- 
orate doctrinal statement of the faith, but to differentiate 
its teaching from that of other Churches. The form of 
many of the questions and the contents of many of the 
answers give evidence of such distinctions. We shall 
consider, accordingly, the points in which the Catechism 
differs from Catholicism, from Radicalism (Anabaptism 
and Socinianism), from Lutheranism, and from high 
Calvinism. 



The evangelical character of the Catechism is brought 
out in three ways: I. by the omission of doctrines which 
are usually expounded at length in catechisms of the 




I 



THE CATECHISM AND CATHOLICISM 



78 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



Roman Church; 2. by polemical statements against cer- 
tain Catholic doctrines and usages; 3. by a presentation 
of doctrines and ideals which are generally accepted by 
Protestant Churches. 

In its four parts the Catechism of the Council of 
Trent (1566) conforms to the divisions of Protestant 
catechisms, though the order is changed as follows : 
Creed, Sacraments, Decalogue, Lord's Prayer. The ex- 
position of these parts, however, contains detailed ex- 
planations of seven sacraments instead of two, of the 
invocation of the Virgin and the Saints, of the various 
kinds of sin, of seven holy orders, of penance, of the 
Pope's authority, etc. Most of these doctrines and ordi- 
nances are not even mentioned in the evangelical cate- 
chisms — a silence which indicates that a consideration of 
these points is foreign to the genius of Protestantism. 
The Heidelberg Catechism, however, dissents from 
Catholicism, not only by its silence, but by direct state- 
ments ranging from mild dissent to bitter polemics. 

The vital issue between Evangelical and Catholic 
Christianity was the doctrine of justification. The 
answer to the question, "Plow may I become righteous 
before God?" divided the Church of the West into two 
branches. The confessions and catechisms of the 16th 
century naturally drew sharp distinctions on this point. 
While the differences are stated in the Heidelberg with 
moderation, they are none the less clearly and firmly 
declared. The doctrine of justification is defined in 
questions 60 and 65, where the relation of faith and 
good works is admirably set forth. 

The word only in the following clauses significantly 
emphasizes the sufficiency of faith on man's part for 
justification: "Only by true faith in Jesus Christ" (Ans. 
60), and "Why sayest thou that thou art righteous 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 79 

only by faith?" (Qu. 61) ; I am acceptable to God not 
even "on account of the worthiness of my faith" (Ans. 
61). This statement is doubtless an allusion to the 
plausible view advanced by the papal legate Contarini at 
the Colloquy of Regensburg. As a basis of reunion of 
Catholics and Protestants he offered the proposition that 
the sinner is justified not by his faith but on account of 
his faith. An acceptance of this politic proposal would 
have opened wide the door for the recrudescence of 
Catholic practices under the guise of the innocent prepo- 
sition "on account of." 

Contrary to Catholic doctrine, good works are not 
allowed any justifying value, as either "the whole or 
part of our righteousness before God." For "even our 
best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with 
sin" (Qu. 62). The objection of the Romanists, that 
"this doctrine makes men careless and profane," was 
effectually met by the classic 64th Answer: "No; for it 
is impossible that those who are implanted into Christ 
by true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankful- 
ness." A fine distinction this between works as the 
fruit of faith or as a result of fear. The difference is 
expressed in another way in Question 91 : "But what are 
good works?" "Those only which are done from true 
faith, according to the law of God, for His glory; and 
not such as rest on our own opinion or the command- 
ments of men." 

Closely related to the doctrine of justification is the 
theory of the original state and the fall of man. Accord- 
ing to the Catholic view the holiness, righteousness, and 
immortality of man before the fall were a supernatural 
gift of God, joined to the nature of man and not inhering 
in it — donum Dei superadditum. Through sin man 
lost the superadded gift, and while his nature, — i.e. 



8o THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



his intellect and will — was weakened, it was not wholly 
depraved. Man retains the power of will to make him- 
self worthy of divine grace, a view which is at the bottom 
of the Roman doctrine of salvation by faith and works. 
In Question 7 the Catechism directly opposes this theory : 
"From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, 
Adam and Eve, in Paradise, whereby our nature became 
so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin." 
With renewed emphasis Question 8 declares that ''We are 
so far depraved that we are wholly unapt to any good and 
prone to all evil, unless we are born again by the Spirit 
of God." Through the fall man did not merely lose cer- 
tain superadded gifts, but the essence of his nature 
became so corrupt that he retained neither freedom of 
will, nor power of discerning truth. His salvation de- 
pends wholly on divine grace, and his knowledge of 
saving truth on divine revelation. 

The difference between Catholicism and the Cate- 
chism is, also, evident in the definition of faith. Answer 
21 describes faith as "not only a certain knozvledge, 
whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in 
His Word : but, also, a hearty trust, which the Holy 
Ghost works in me by the Gospel, that not only to others, 
but to me also, forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteous- 
ness and salvation are freely given by God, merely of 
grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits." Faith is more 
than assent to propositions and submission to ordinances. 
It is trust in a living person, wrought in the heart of 
the believer by the Holy Ghost through the Gospel. The 
assurance of faith is not found in authoritative declara- 
tions of councils, popes, or synods, but in a personal 
experience of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. The 
Catholic definition of faith is essentially different. In 
the preface of the Catechism of the Council of Trent is 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 81 



found the following: "Where we speak of that faith by 
which we yield our entire assent to whatever has been 
revealed by Almighty God. That faith thus understood 
is necessary to salvation, no man can reasonably doubt." 
Faith is resolved into mere assent to whatever God has 
revealed. The Church is the guardian of divine revela- 
tion. To believe, therefore, is to assent to the doctrines 
and prescriptions of the Church. The element of a 
"hearty trust which the Holy Ghost works in me by the 
Gospel," is not so much as mentioned. The assurance 
of faith rests altogether on external authority, not on 
personal conviction based on the soul's experience of 
God in Christ. 

The Catechism very happily summarizes the objects 
of faith — that "which it is necessary for a Christian to 
believe" — in the articles of the Creed. Human tradi- 
tions, ecclesiastical ordinances, and the commandments 
of men are ignored, or by implication excluded. Men 
are asked to believe primarily not in a book nor in an 
institution, but in the living God revealed in Jesus Christ. 
The Catechism thus evades the coordination of Scripture 
and tradition as found in Catholicism, and the rigid bib- 
lical literalism of 17th century Protestants, based on the 
theory of verbal inspiration. 

Without mentioning the term, the doctrine of purga- 
tory is denied by the statement in Answer 57 : "My soul, 
after this life, shall be immediately taken up to Christ, 
its Head." The invocation of saints and the use of 
images are prohibited in statements like the following: 
"That, on peril of my soul's salvation I avoid and flee 
all idolatry, sorcery, enchantments, invocation of saints 
or of other creatures" (Qu. 94) ; "That we in nowise 
make any image of God, nor worship Him in any other 
way than He has commanded in His Word" (Qu. 96). 

6 



82 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



So far the references to Catholic doctrine have been 
moderate in tone and have displayed little if any bitter- 
ness. The polemical spirit, however, controls questions 
30 and 80. In answer to Question 30, "Do such then be- 
lieve in the only Savior, Jesus, who seek their salvation 
and welfare of saints, of themselves, or anywhere else?" 
we are told: "No; although they may make their boast 
of Him, yet in act they deny the only Savior, Jesus." 
This statement not only is harsh, but exceeds the limits 
of veracity. For, while the veneration of saints may 
often have been abused, the Catholic Church has never 
taught that salvation should be sought of saints, but only 
of Christ, with the help of the saints. The veneration of 
saints is not intended to be a denial of the ultimate source 
of salvation in Christ Jesus. 

The 80th Question, "What difference is there between 
the Lord's Supper and the popish mass?" is most offen- 
sively polemical, and is considered by many as a blot 
upon the Catechism. It not only defines the difference 
"between the Lord's Supper and the popish mass," but 
concludes with a sort of Protestant anathema : "And thus 
the mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the 
one sacrifice and passion of Jesus Christ, and an accursed 
idolatry." 

The points and questions in which the Catechism 
differs from Catholicism may be summarized as follows: 
the Original State and the Fall, Quu. 6-8; Faith, Quu. 
21-22 ; Justification and Good Works, Quu. 60-65, 91 ; 
Prohibition of Invocation of Saints and of Images, Quu. 
30, 94, 96 ; the Mass and the Sacraments, Quu. 72-78, 80. 

The Catechism is based upon the distinctively evan- 
gelical doctrines which are common to the two branches 
of Protestantism, the Lutheran and the Reformed. The 
psychological ground of the Reformation was the con- 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 83 



sciousness of man's sin and misery, and the desire for 
assurance of salvation, the "only comfort in life and in 
death." It was a repetition in the 16th century of Paul's 
experience — "Wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver 
me out of the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24). This 
cry of distress is heard in the questions of the first part 
of the Catechism. Man is helplessly and hopelessly de- 
praved, "by nature prone to hate God and my neighbor" 
(Q u - 5)- His efforts to appease God and to save him- 
self "daily increase his guilt" (Qu. 13). He must find 
salvation in some one else, not one who is a mere crea- 
ture, but one who is at the same time true God and 
true man. 

The objective ground of salvation is the satisfaction 
made by Jesus Christ for the sins of mankind. In many 
of the answers the theory of atonement which was held 
by both Luther and Calvin may be traced. Passages 
like the following point men to the source of their 
redemption and the certainty of their salvation: "Who 
with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my 
sins" (Qu. 1) ; "God wills that His justice be satis- 
fied" (Qu. 12) ; "Who by the one sacrifice of His body 
has redeemed us" (Qu. 31); "He bore in body and 
soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole 
human race" (Qu. 37) ; "Only the satisfaction, righteous- 
ness and holiness of Christ are my righteousness" (Qu. 
61), The scarlet thread of the cross is drawn through 
the whole Catechism and its cardinal doctrine is the 
salvation of man through the "one sacrifice of Christ 
accomplished on the cross" (Qu. 66). 

The benefits of Christ's atoning sacrifice are appro- 
priated by faith. The object of faith and the cause of 
faith are set forth in the second part of the Catechism : — 
Faith is the gift of God, wrought in the heart by the 



84 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



Holy Spirit — a Lutheran and a Reformed doctrine. Prof. 
Lang says : "Calvin more faithfully defended and defined 
the original conception of salvation as held by Luther 
than any dogmatician of the Reformation/' The Calvin- 
ism of the Catechism does not, indeed, minimize, but 
rather serves to magnify the material principle of Pro- 
testantism, justification by grace through faith. 

The formal principle of the Reformation was the 
normative authority of the Bible in doctrine and life. 
This doctrine is taught by implication, more than by 
direct affirmation, throughout the Catechism. One looks 
in vain for a definition of the Bible or the Word of God. 
The books of the Sacred Canon are not enumerated. 
Question 19 speaks of "the Holy Gospel which God him- 
self first revealed in Paradise; afterwards proclaimed by 
the holy Patriarchs and Prophets, and foreshadowed by 
the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law ; and finally 
fulfilled by His well-beloved Son." This is the nearest 
approach to a definition of the Bible as a rule of faith. 
Yet the citation of proof-texts on the margin of the 
first edition implies that the Scriptures are the source 
of truth and the standard of authority. It is significant 
that no appeal is made in proof of a single doctrine to 
the fathers, councils, or papal decretals. The preface of 
the Catechism also makes special reference to the Word 
of God as the foundation of its teaching. When Fred- 
erick so courageously defended "his Catechism" before 
the diet of Augsburg, he claimed that "it was so firmly 
based on the Holy Scriptures that it could not be over- 
thrown." 

The Catechism, in its definition of the Church as "a 
chosen communion, in the unity of the true faith," is 
not simply Reformed, but Protestant. "Believers, all and 
every one, as members of Christ have part in Him and in 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 



85 



all His treasures and gifts" (Qu. 55). Thus the Catho- 
lic distinction between the hierarchy and the laity, an 
ecclesia doc ens and an e celesta audiens, is abolished, and 
the biblical doctrine of the universal priesthood of be- 
lievers is restored to its proper place. The Holy Spirit 
working through the word takes the place of the priest 
and his mediating transactions. The gospel takes the 
place of the sacraments. Only "by His spirit and word" 
does the Son of God "gather, defend and preserve for 
Himself a chosen communion in the unity of the true 
faith" (Qu. 54). 

Some writers have considered the organic relation 
between faith and moral life as being a distinctively Re- 
formed characteristic. It is, indeed, felicitously taught 
in the 64th Answer in the words, "for it is impossible 
that those who are implanted into Christ by true faith 
should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness." Yet the 
same doctrine is found in the Augsburg Confession : 
"Also they teach that this faith should bring forth good 
fruits" (Art. VI), and, "because the Holy Spirit is re- 
ceived by faith our hearts are now renewed, and so put 
on new affections, so that they are able to bring forth 
good works" (Art. XX). Evidently this view of faith 
and works is common to both branches of Protestantism. 

To summarize the evangelical doctrines of the Cate- 
chism we enumerate the following: 1. the depravity of 
man; 2. the satisfaction theory of atonement, with em- 
phasis upon the sacrifice on the cross; 3. justification by 
grace through faith; 4. the normative authority of the 
Bible; 5. good works a fruit of faith. 



86 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



II 

THE CATECHISM AND RADICALISM 

The Reformers of Wittenberg and Zurich, when they 
came to a reconstruction of the Church in conformity to 
their experience of salvation, had to steer clear not only 
of Romanism, but also of radicalism. In its practical 
form this came to be known as Anabaptism ; in its theo- 
retical, as Socinianism. 

The Anabaptists were the individualists of the Refor- 
mation and differed widely among themselves in doctrine, 
cultus, and polity. Yet they held certain ideas and prin- 
ciples in common. The term anabaptist was applied to 
different groups, because they insisted on adult baptism 
and did not recognize infant baptism of the Roman, or 
of the State, Church. They denied the legitimacy of the 
civil magistracy as well as of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. 
They were disposed to undervalue or ignore the neces- 
sity of a regular ministry and of education for the preach- 
ing or for the understanding of the Word. They trusted 
in the guidance of the Spirit, who is to lead men into the 
truth. They refused to take oaths, bear arms, or hold 
political office. Many of them laid claim to special sanc- 
tity or perfection. The Socinians stood out prominently 
for their denial of the essential deity of Christ and the 
doctrine of the Trinity, though they differed in every 
other cardinal point from the evangelical system. 

The Catechism enjoins infant baptism in Question 74. 
The civil magistrate is authorized to require an oath, 
when the interest of justice and truth requires it, and to 
be armed with the sword to restrain murder (Quu. 101 
to 104). He may, also, punish theft, robbery and other 
transgressions (Qu. 107). A fine admonition to render 
obedience to all in authority is contained in Question 104. 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 87 



The ministry of the Gospel and schools are upheld in 
Question 103. The legitimate use of oaths is defined in 
Question 101, while perfection is disclaimed in Question 
114. The single allusion to the anti-Trinitarians occurs 
in Answer 33 : "Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of 
God. But we are children of God by adoption through 
grace for His sake." Of course, the spirit of the whole 
Catechism controverts Socinianism. 

Ill 

THE CATECHISM AND LUTHERAN ISM 

At the time the Catechism was written the contro- 
versy was as hot between the Lutherans and the Cal- 
vinists as between the Protestants and the Catholics. 
The point of contention was the doctrine of the sacra- 
ments, the Lord's Supper in particular. It was only 
natural, therefore, that the authors of the Catechism 
should clearly differentiate their doctrinal positions from 
those of their Lutheran opponents. The distinctions are 
made in a moderate tone and without polemical zeal. 
The variations come to light in the doctrine of the 
sacraments, of Christ, and of the Church. 

The Catechism, evidently in opposition to the 
Lutheran view, distinguishes sharply between the external 
signs of the sacraments and the spiritual realities which 
they symbolize. These realities are not bound up with 
nor communicated through the material elements. They 
are merely symbolized and sealed by the visible elements. 
Baptism and the Holy Supper signify and seal unto thee 
"that thou hast part in the one sacrifice of Christ on the 
cross" (Quu. 69 and 75). 

In answer to the question, "What benefits does Bap- 



88 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



tism confer?" the Small Catechism of Luther says: "It 
worketh (sie wirkt) forgiveness of sins, delivers from 
death and the devil, and gives everlasting salvation to 
all who believe this, as the words and promises of God 
declare." Observe the active form of the verbs, "it 
worketh," "delivers," "gives." True, the efficacy of the 
sacrament is not the water (Wasser thut's freilich nicht), 
"but the Word of God which is with and in the water, 
and faith, which trusts in the Word of God in the water." 
Through the presence of the Word of God, baptism be- 
comes "a gracious water of life and a washing of regen- 
eration in the Holy Ghost." 

Such an interpenetration of water and the Word, and 
such an operation of the Word through water, the Re- 
formed Churches have never acknowledged. The Second 
Helvetic Confession, next to the Heidelberg Catechism 
the most widely accepted Reformed symbol, says in Art. 
20: ''Internally we are born of God through the Holy 
Spirit, cleansed and renewed ; but externally we receive 
the sealing of these gifts in the water, by which these 
so-great benefits are represented to us and at the same 
time set before our eyes." The grace of regeneration and 
the forgiveness of sins are externally represented to all 
who are baptized by water, but internally imparted only 
to the believer by the action of the Holy Spirit. A sharp 
distinction this between the symbolizing function of water 
and the generating activity of the Holy Spirit. The 
same distinction is maintained in the questions and an- 
swers of the Heidelberg Catechism (69-74). "I am 
washed with His blood and spirit from the pollution of 
my soul, that is, from all my sins, as certainly as I am 
washed outwardly with water, whereby the filthiness of 
the body is taken away." (See also Qu. 73.) The wash- 
ing with His blood and spirit is not accomplished through 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 89 

the water ; it is merely symbolized by the water. We are 
washed with His blood and spirit not because we are 
baptized, but we are baptized because we are washed with 
His blood and spirit. This view is confirmed by Calvin 
in his criticism of the Interim of 1548, when he says : 
"The reception into sonship precedes baptism. This re- 
ception is not half the cause of salvation, so that another 
half must be added, but gives us salvation wholly and 
completely, which baptism then confirms" (Staehlin, Life 
of Calvin, II., p. 187). 

Baptism, in the Calvinistic sense, has clearly only rep- 
resentational, symbolical, and confirmatory significance. 
The blessings of forgiveness and regeneration are not 
imparted through or by water; but by the Holy Spirit, 
whose operation may coincide with the baptismal act, 
but who, under no circumstances, works through the 
baptismal water. 

In the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, also, the Cate- 
chism clearly differs from the Lutheran Church. Luther's 
Small Catechism, in answer to the question "What is the 
sacrament of the altar?" says: "It is the true body and 
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine 
given unto us Christians to eat and to drink as it was 
instituted by Christ Himself." Here the real presence 
of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under 
the bread and wine, is taught. In the Large Catechism 
Luther used the prepositions "in" and "under" to define 
the relation of the elements to the body and blood of 
Christ. Later, in the controversy between Hesshus and 
Klebitz three prepositions were employed, "in," "with," 
and "under," and these were incorporated in the Formula 
of Concord, Solid Declaration. All communicants, 
worthy and unworthy, receive through the mouth, in, 
with, and under the elements, the body and blood of 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



Christ. For the former it is a savor of life unto life; 
for the latter, a savor of death unto death. 

The Heidelberg Catechism steers clear of the concep- 
tion of a corporeal real presence in the elements and a 
reception of this presence through the mouth by believer 
and unbeliever. Answer 75 lays stress on the fact "that 
with His crucified body and shed blood, He himself feeds 
and nourishes my soul to everlasting life, as certainly 
as I receive from the hand of the minister and taste with 
my mouth, the bread and cup of the Lord." This nour- 
ishment, however, is not given in, with, and under, the 
bread and wine. For the bread and cup of the Lord 
are no more than "certain tokens of the body and blood of 
Christ — not vehicles or instruments." The most that 
one could claim is, that the spiritual food is imparted by 
the mediation of the Holy Spirit at the same time that 
the bread and wine are received. Nor does any one, save 
the believer, receive the body and blood of Christ; the 
unbeliever receives only bread and wine. This fact is 
not stated in so many words, but it is a legitimate infer- 
ence from the whole tenor of the Catechism. Question 
65 emphasizes the statement that by faith only we are 
made partakers of Christ and all His benefits. The 
same position is taken in Questions 75, 76 and 77. 

In the doctrine of the Catechism the views of Zwingli 
and of Calvin are blended. The Lord's Supper is de- 
scribed as both a memorial and a food. The original 
German of Question 75 says : "Wie zvirst du im heiligen 
Abendmahl erinnert & versichert, etc.," "How art thou 
reminded and assured in the Holy Supper, etc. ?" This 
is a Zwinglian note. The mind and heart of the com- 
municant are directed to Calvary, where "His body was 
offered and broken on the Cross for me, and His blood 
shed for me as certainly as I see with my eyes the bread 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 



of the Lord broken for me and the cup communicated 
to me" (Qu. 75). 

On the other hand Calvin's conception of mystical 
union and spiritual nourishment is brought out in Ques- 
tions 76 and 79. "But moreover, also, to be so united 
more and more to His sacred body by the Holy Ghost, 
who dwells both in Christ and in us, that although He is 
in heaven and we on the earth, we are nevertheless flesh 
of His flesh and bone of His bones, and live and are gov- 
erned forever by one spirit, as members of the same body 
are by one soul." A clear definition this of the doctrine 
of the mystical union, which played so large a part hr 
the theology of the German Reformed Church. In Ques- 
tion 79 the idea of the Sacrament as food is set forth in 
these words : "But much more, by this visible sign and 
pledge to assure us that we are as really partakers of His 
true body and blood, through the working of the Holy 
Ghost, as we receive by the mouth of the body these holy 
tokens in remembrance of Him; and that all His suffer- 
ings and obedience are as certainly our own as if we had 
ourselves suffered and done all in our own persons." 
The heavenly nourishment, however, is imparted to the 
communicant through the mediation of the Holy Ghost,, 
and not through the channel of bread and wine. 

Closely related to the doctrine of the real presence is 
the doctrine of the ubiquity of Christ's glorified humanity ; 
affirmed by the Lutherans, denied by the Reformed. The 
Lutheran theory of the real presence requires the doc- 
trine of the ubiquity, or everywhereness, of the humanity 
of Christ. For all practical purposes the humanity 
of the glorified Christ is coextensive with his divinity; 
where the one is, there the other must be also. This is 
a metaphysical basis for Luther's view of the real pres- 
ence. 



92 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



In the Formula of Concord (The Epitome), Art. 
VII. V. 2, it is stated, "that the right hand of God is 
everywhere, and that Christ in respect of His humanity is 
truly and in very deed seated thereat, and therefore as 
present governs, and has in His hand and under His feet, 
as the Scripture saith (Eph. 1:22), all things which are in 
heaven and on earth." In the same section the opposite 
view, presumably held by the Reformed, is described 
as follows: "That Christ's body is so confined in heaven 
that it can in no mode whatever be likewise at one and 
the same time in many places, or in all the places where 
the Lord's Supper is celebrated." 

The Reformed view is taught in the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism in Questions 46 to 48, in reference to Christ's as- 
cension into heaven. Question 46 says: "That Christ in 
sight of His disciples was taken up from the earth into 
heaven ; and in our behalf there continues, until He shall 
come again to judge the living and the dead." Question 
47 explains more in detail the relation between the divine 
and human natures of Christ in His glorified state, as 
follows : "Christ is true man and true God : according to 
His human nature, He is now not upon earth ; but accord- 
ing to His Godhead, majesty, grace, and spirit, He is at 
no time absent from us." This is a very clear and definite 
rejection of the Lutheran doctrine of the ubiquity of 
Christ's humanity (ubiquitas carnis Christi). 

The significance of the descent into Hades {helle 
in the German, ad inferna in the Latin), as defined in 
Question 44, is totally different from the interpretation 
Luther gave to this article in the Creed. He held that the 
body and soul of Christ went to the place of departed 
spirits and there suffered, so as to overcome all things on 
earth and under the earth (1521). Later, he said in a 
sermon at Torgau (1533) : "Christ descended into Hell 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 



among the damned, overcame Hell and the Devil, so that 
those who believe on Him could not be held or hurt, by 
Hell or the Devil." 

The answer in the Heidelberg- to the question, "Why 
is it added: He descended into Hades?" does not really 
explain the question. The descent is reduced to "His 
inexpressible anguish, pains and terrors which He suf- 
fered in His soul on the Cross and before, and by which 
He has redeemed many from the anguish and torment of 
Hell." Not a word is said about His going into Hades, 
about what He did there, or why He went there. The 
catechumen is only assured that, on account of Christ's 
sufferings on the Cross and before, he is delivered from 
the anguish and torment of Hell. This view coincides 
with the exposition of this article in the Genevan Cate- 
chism by Calvin. 

On the doctrine of the Church the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism again shows its Reformed character. The Augs- 
burg Confession, Art. 7, defines the Church as "the con- 
gregation of saints in which the Gospel is rightly taught 
and the sacraments are rightly administered." The Re- 
formed Church, also, holds the Church to be a community 
of believers or saints, and considers the preaching of the 
Gospel as a mark of the Church. But it distinguishes, 
in a way the Lutherans did not, at least not until long 
after the Reformation, between the visible and the invisi- 
ble Church. The invisible Church, according to Zwingli 
and Calvin, consists of the elect, or the predestinated. 
The significance of the Word and of the sacraments, as a 
mark of the Church, was modified, if not minimized, when 
Zwingli (not Calvin) taught, that even among the heathen 
there were elect. In harmony with this view the answer 
to Question 54, "What dost thou believe concerning the 
holy Catholic Church ?"says, that "out of the whole human 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



race from the beginning to the end of the world, the Son 
of God, by His spirit and word, gathers, defends, and pre- 
serves for Himself unto everlasting life, a chosen com- 
munion, in the unity of the true faith ; and that I am, 
and forever shall remain, a living member of the same." 
The Catechism, in Questions 23 and 54, in the original 
German retains the term allgemeine (universal), in the 
article of the Creed, eine heilige allgemeine Christliche 
Kirche (a holy universal Christian Church), to give ex- 
pression to the idea of the universality of the Church in 
the Reformed sense. Luther in his Small Catechism 
omits the term ''Catholic" or "universal," and simply 
says: "The Holy Christian Church." 

The Office of the Keys or the theory of church disci- 
pline, as denned in Questions 83 to 85 is in agreement 
with the doctrine of Calvin. How it differs from the 
Lutheran view will appear by comparing the Catechism 
in Otho Henry's Liturgy (1556) with the position taken 
by the Heidelberg. In the former the question, "What 
are the keys of the kingdom of God ?" is answered thus : 
"The office of the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ." In answer to the same question the Heidelberg 
says: "The preaching of the holy gospel and church dis- 
cipline. By which two things the kingdom of God is 
opened to believers and shut against unbelievers." The 
authority of discipline is given "to the church or its 
proper officers" (Qu. 85). It is an unmistakable mark of 
Calvinistic polity when the power of discipline is vested 
in the officers of the congregation instead of a civil body, 
whether the civil body be a consistory appointed by the 
prince or a city council chosen by the people. 

It may be of interest to add that the Catechism rejects 
the doctrine of Melancthon, held by him since at least 
£548, namely, that the natural man has the power of 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 



95 



applying himself to grace (facnltas applicandi se ad 
gratiam). The opposite view is taught in Question 5: 
"I am by nature prone to hate God and my neighbor," 
and in Question 8 : "We are so far depraved that we are 
wholly unapt to any good and prone to all evil." The 
doctrine of Synergism in any form whatever is thus 
firmly disowned. 



IV 

THE CATECHISM AND CALVINISM 

Historians and theologians have differed widely in 
their characterization of the doctrinal type of the Cate- 
chism. The Lutheran opponents, soon after its publica- 
tion, denounced it as a composite of Zwinglianism and 
Calvinism, dangerous to sound faith and true piety. In 
the address of the three princes to Frederick III., May, 
1563, we find the following unvarnished statement: "We 
know by the gracious help of God, that Zwinglianism 
and Calvinism in the article on the Lord's Supper are a 
seductive and a damned error; in direct contradiction to 
the Holy Scriptures, the Apostolic Church, the true Chris- 
tian understanding of the Augsburg Confession, and the 
commonly accepted and defended religious Peace of 
Augsburg" (1555). Heppe, however, dissented from 
this judgment of the Lutheran princes and considered 
the Catechism a Melancthonian work. Gooszen, in an 
exhaustive study of the sources of the Catechism, con- 
cludes that the spirit of Bullinger of Zurich predominates. 
On this point Karl Miiller, in his Symbolik, says, "Goos- 
zen's one-sided predilection to find Bullinger's type of 
doctrine in the Heidelberg is historically no more trust- 
worthy than Heppe's contention that it is Melancthonian. 



96 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



The theories of both these men are shaped largely by 
their personal inclination to the doctrinal views of their 
respective heroes." Dr. Nevin says the Catechism is 
"substantially Calvinistic in its doctrine of the sacra- 
ments ; but it has carefully refrained from committing 
itself to Calvin's doctrine of the decrees." Prof. Lang, 
the greatest living authority on Calvin and the Reforma- 
tion in South Germany, conclusively disproves the thesis 
of Gooszen and shows that the Catechism in spirit and 
tendency is Calvinistic; yet its Calvinism is modified by 
influences from other Reformed, and from Lutheran, 
sources. One may define it as Calvinism modified by 
the German genius. To use Goebel's rhetorical phrase: 
"It has Lutheran inwardness, Melancthonian clearness, 
Zwinglian simplicity, and Calvinistic fire, harmoniously 
blended." Yet it is not simply a mosaic of excerpts from 
various sources but a new creation with original strength 
and beauty, both a work of art and a book of doctrine. 

A comprehensive standard of Reformed (Calvinistic) 
doctrine and piety is found in Staudlin's Geschichte der 
theologischen Wissenschaften, 1811. Theil II., p. 66. 
According to this standard an orthodox and loyal mem- 
ber of the Reformed, in distinction from the Roman 
Catholic or the Lutheran, Church must answer to the fol- 
lowing questions: (1) Are the body and blood of Christ 
truly and substantially present in the Lord's Supper, so 
that they are received through the mouth by both the be- 
liever and the unbeliever? No. (2) Is the human nature 
of Jesus everywhere present and are the attributes of the 
divine nature communicated to the human nature? No. 
(3) Does God will the salvation of all men; did Christ 
therefore die for all men ; is grace offered unto all men 
for conversion ; has God predestined men accord- 
ing to his fore-knowledge of their faith or their 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 



unbelief? No. (4) Can true believers or saints ever 
fall away altogether from the grace of God? No. (5) 
Does baptism effect regeneration and faith as the ordi- 
nary and necessary means of salvation ; in cases of 
necessity, may laymen or women baptize; is exorcism 
to be practiced with baptism? No. (6) Are confes- 
sion and absolution to be continued? No. (7) Is it 
appropriate that, for a solemn celebration of the Lord's 
Supper, candles be lighted; that priests wear white 
gowns ; that altars and golden chalices be used ; that 
bread be not broken ; that wafers be distributed ; that the 
elements are not to be given into the hands of the com- 
municant; that the Communion be brought to the sick 
in their homes? No. (8) Ought one to bow his knee 
or uncover his head at the mention of the name of Jesus? 
No. (9) Should there be images and organs in the 
churches? No. Tested by this standard of Reformed 
orthodoxy the Heidelberg Catechism is true to type in 
answering negatively, either directly or by implication, 
questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 9. There are no references in the 
Catechism to questions 6, 7 and 8. The early customs in 
the Reformed churches of Germany, however, would 
require a negative answer to these questions. 

The Catechism fosters a truly Calvinistic type of 
piety. The sole authority of the Word of God, as over 
against the commandments or opinions of men, die 
Kirche nach Gottes Wort reformirt, is frequently re- 
iterated in the answers. Observe the following : "Where- 
fore the Christian Church is bound, according to the 
order of Christ and His Apostles" (Qu. 82) ; good works 
are described as "those only which are done from true 
faith, according to the Law of God, for His glory" 
(Qu. 91) ; the second commandment requires that "we 
in no wise make any image of God, nor worship Him in 

7 



98 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



any other way than He has commanded in His Word" 
(Qu. 96). In worship and deed men are to be guided 
by the word of God and impelled by the Glory of God — 
a thoroughly Calvinistic note. 

True to the Reformed genius, also, is the emphasis 
on the absolute dependence of the believer on God (Quu. 
26, 27, 28), the unconditional assurance of salvation or 
belief in perseverance of the saints (Quu. 1, 31, 54, 56), 
the demand for ethical proof of faith and the rejection 
of all material channels for the mediation of grace and 
salvation (Quu. 29, 30, 65, 66, 94, 96). In its definitions 
of these points the Catechism conforms to the spirit and 
doctrine of Calvin. 

Yet it is generally acknowledged that the Catechism 
represents a modified or moderate form of Calvinism, in 
distinction from what is commonly termed high Cal- 
vinism. 

Gooszen, following Ebrard, finds in Reformed Pro- 
testantism two leading tendencies — the soteriological and 
biblical, or anthropological and soteriological, on the one 
hand ; the intellectual and speculative on the other. The 
former he traces to Bullinger, the latter to Calvin. Dr. 
Nevin refers to the same tendencies, but discerns both 
of them in Calvinism itself. In the Historical Introduc- 
tion of the Tercentenary Edition of the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism, p. 80, he says : "There is an innate opposition here, 
unquestionably, between the two sides of Calvin's system, 
as it was taught by himself in the sixteenth century; his 
theory of election and reprobation can never be made to 
agree fully with the old church idea which he labored 
with so much ingenuity to conserve in his theory of 
the sacraments." Prof. William A. Brown, in an article 
on "Changes in the Theology of American Presbyterian- 
ism," in The American Journal of Theology, July, 1906, 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 99 

speaks of "two streams of thought and feeling, flowing 
side by side through the early history of Protestantism. " 
These "meet and blend in the theology of Puritanism. 
The Westminster standards are the joint products of 
minds of different types." Then he goes on to say that, 
"looked at from one point of view the theology of West- 
minster is experimental through and through. The im- 
mediate contact between God and the soul is affirmed." 
This indicates an experimentalism and a mysticism 
worthy of Luther himself. Yet there is "another strand 
of thought" inter vowen through the Westminster Con- 
fession, a strand which is less personal and immediate, 
but far more legalistic and forensic. 

However these men may define the two currents 
coursing through Protestantism, they seem to agree that 
in one form or another the difference exists and makes 
itself felt in catechisms and in confessions. 

A comparison of the plan of the Genevan and the 
Heidelberg catechisms will enable us to understand the 
distinction made by Gooszen. In Calvin's Catechism the 
material is arranged in the following order: first, the 
Creed ; next the Decalogue ; then the Lord's Prayer ; and 
finally the Word and the Sacraments. The ultimate 
question to be answered in the four parts is, "How is 
God to be rightly honored or glorified?" The Catechism 
of Calvin seeks to teach men how to glorify God, and 
every part of it is controlled by that idea — God's glory 
and God's will. It is theological and legalistic in spirit. 
The questions lack the personal note, and many of the 
answers are theoretical and speculative. The introduc- 
tory questions will illustrate this point: "What is the 
chief end of human life?" "What reason have you for 
affirming this ?" "What is man's highest good ?" Ques- 
tions like these may be discussed in a school of philosophy, 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



pagan or Christian, perhaps with more propriety and 
interest than in a catechetical class. They are too theo- 
retical and speculative, not sufficiently personal, experi- 
mental, and confessional. 

The Heidelberg Catechism is divided into three parts : 
I. Man's Misery; 2. Man's Deliverance; 3. Man's Thank- 
fulness for his Deliverance. The divisions correspond 
to the way of salvation as experienced by Paul and out- 
lined in the Epistle to the Romans. It is the logic of 
life, not of the schools. The ultimate question to be 
answered in the Heidelberg is, "how man is to find com- 
fort in life and in death?" The primary purpose is to 
comfort men through the salvation which they receive 
through their faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. Every part 
of the Catechism is controlled by that idea — the comfort 
of man in the salvation of Christ. It is anthropological, 
starting with a cry for help out of the depths of sin ; it 
is soteriological, showing the way of salvation. The 
motive of Christian living is not primarily the glory of 
God, but thankfulness for deliverance. That is, the 
Christain obeys the law of God not simply because it is 
prescribed in the Scriptures nor because God is to be 
glorified, but because he is thankful for his salvation; a 
soteriological basis even for Christian ethics. 

It cannot be gainsaid that the theological and specu- 
lative tendency also is found in the Heidelberg Catechism, 
but it is no longer the controlling factor, as in the Gen- 
evan Catechism or in the Westminster standards. 

The doctrine of the sacraments is clearly Calvinistic, 
as we have shown in the preceding section. Yet certain 
functions of the sacraments, which are emphasized in 
other Reformed catechisms, like Leo Jude's and Calvin's, 
are not even mentioned in the answers of the Heidelberg. 
With great care is the objectivity and reality of grace in 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 



the sacraments intoned. The repetition of the formula 
"not only . . . but much more" in Questions 73, 76, 
79, is to make clear the fact that the sacraments are not 
mere empty signs of salvation, but symbols of personal 
communion with Christ glorified. All this was to avoid 
unnecessary offense against the Lutheran subjects of the 
Elector. 

But in their zeal for the real presence in the Sacra- 
ment the authors lost sight of its social and ethical sig- 
nificance. In answer to the question in the Catechism 
of Leo Jude : "Warzu dient es (das Nachtmal) ?" ("What 
is the purpose of the Lord's Supper?") we are told: 
"That we commemorate His love, that we love one an- 
other, and live devoutly/' In like manner Micronius, 
in his small Catechism, says (Qu. 100) : "Of what more 
are we admonished in the Lord's Supper?" Ans. "Of 

our service both to God and to our neighbor That 

we shall show brotherly love to the helpless, and to aid 
the poor liberally according to our possessions." A 
similar statement is made in reference to the Lord's Sup- 
per in Calvin's Catechism. The more one weighs the 
value of these truths inculcated by the Sacrament as 
originally interpreted in the Reformed Churches, the more 
will one regret their omission in the answers of the 
Heidelberg Catechism. An instance, it may be, where 
the spirit of reconciliation resulted in a neglect of impor- 
tant truths. 

The moderate Calvinism of the Catechism is especially 
evident in the doctrine of predestination which plays so 
prominent a part in Reformed symbols. Both Olevianus 
and Ursinus were predestinarians, yet they seem to re- 
frain carefully from introducing the doctrine of the 
decrees into the Catechism. One looks in vain in the 
Heidelberg for statements like the following, taken from 



102 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

Calvin's Catechism : "The church is the society of be- 
lievers, whom God has predestinated" ; "He shows mercy, 
when He wills, toward the children of the ungodly, yet 
He has not so bound His grace to the children of be- 
lievers that He cannot reject whom He wills"; "two 
kinds of men" — referring to the elect and to the reprobate. 
The passages in the Heidelberg which refer to the doc- 
trine of election have a different sound. The following 
are the more prominent: "Wherefore, by His holy spirit 
He also assures me of eternal life" (Qu. i) ; "and our 
eternal King, who governs us by His word and spirit, and 
defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for 
us" (Qu. 31) ; "that no creature shall separate us from 
His love, since all creatures are so in His hand that 
without His will they cannot so much as move" (Qu. 28) ; 
t( and shall abide with me forever" (Qu. 53) ; "that out 

of the whole human race the Son of God gathers, 

defends and preserves unto Himself a chosen communion 

and that I am, and forever shall remain a living 

member of the same" (Qu. 54). 

The Catechism, in harmony with its purpose, presents 
that aspect of the doctrine of divine sovereignty or of 
election which serves to comfort and to uphold men in 
the struggle of life. It is the assurance of divine provi- 
dence, of the efficacy and continuity of divine grace, of 
the perseverance of the believer, of the ultimate victory 
of the truth and love of God, that the catechumen re- 
ceives in a number of answers. He is not, however, con- 
fronted by the metaphysical problem of divine decrees 
in relation to the fall, or to the destiny of angels and men, 
or to the salvation of children dying in infancy. The 
Catechism confines itself to the religious truth in the doc- 
trine of divine sovereignty which both consoles and 
edifies. It was happily expressed by Calvin, when he 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 



dismissed his students after an hour's lecture with the 
words: "If God be for us who can be against us?" — a 
truth which appeals to faith and by no means requires 
the inference of a double predestination. 

The authors of the Catechism may have avoided the 
doctrine of predestination because it does not belong to 
a book for the instruction of youth. Yet a far more 
satisfactory reason for the silence on the decrees seems 
to be that their presentation is not in accord with the 
genius which pervades the Catechism from beginning to 
end. Its purpose is to comfort men ; and the comforting 
element of the doctrine of election is adroitly woven into 
the texture of the Catechism, while the offensive and 
speculative element of reprobation is deftly omitted. 

By a comparative view of the general scheme of the 
Catechism, perhaps as much as by detailed analysis, its 
peculiar doctrinal positions must be understood. In 
general it is Calvinistic and not Arminian. The Augus- 
tinian doctrine of sin and grace is held, over against 
Pelagianism. The depravity and helplessness of the race 
through the fall are clearly affirmed. Neither the race 
nor the individual has natural ability to escape from this 
lost condition. The fall is traced to a concrete historical 
fact — the disobedience of our first parents. It is generic, 
involving all men; not, as in the Pelagian view, merely 
the individual. The origin of sin is not referred to a 
metaphysical mystery beyond the scope of historical reve- 
lation, but to a definite act of man. 

Man's salvation is attributed absolutely to the free 
and unmerited grace of God in Jesus Christ. The start- 
ing point is not in the divine sovereignty nor in the eter- 
nal abstract will of God as metaphysically apprehended, 
but in Jesus Christ. He freely offers Himself as a propi- 
tiatory sacrifice for all men. The Catechism steers clear 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



of Synergism and Arminianism. It does not limit the 
atonement to the elect. As the fall is organic, so is re- 
demption. Yet the redemption wrought out by Christ 
inures to the salvation of those only who are born again 
and are made partakers of His life by the Holy Ghost. 
The subjective condition by which men become partakers 
of Christian redemption is faith. This involves not only 
assent to a doctrine or belief in a decree, but "a living ap- 
prehension of the whole perennial fact of Christianity as 
embodied in the Apostle's Creed." Faith itself is a prod- 
uct not of the human will, but of the Holy Ghost, who 
"works it in our hearts by the preaching of the Gospel and 
confirms it by the use of the Sacraments." We find here, 
then, the substantial and positive elements of the Calvin- 
istic system, at least under some of its aspects; but the 
subject is treated rather Christ ologically than theolog- 
ically, and the metaphysical questions pertaining to the 
sovereignty of God in relation to the human will are not 
brought forth. 

The most recent critical analysis and comparative esti- 
mate of the Catechism have been made by A. Lang, in a 
work entitled, Der Heidclberger Katechismus und vier 
verwandte Katechismen, 1907. In the last pages of the 
Introduction he assigns the Catechism its proper place 
in Protestantism. We shall freely reproduce his state- 
ments. The Heidelberg is the rich, ripe product not only 
of Calvinism, but of influences which came from all the 
earlier Reformed catechisms, as well as from those of 
the German Lutheran Reformation. It is simplified, 
clarified, and made more practical. In it the religious 
and ethical elements are separated from the theo- 
logical, in spite of certain oversights, far more sharply 
than in any preceding catechism. It speaks to the 
heart more directly and reaches into life far more 



THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES 105 

practically than either Calvin's or Bullinger's catechism. 
Not so much in a dogmatic tendency, but in the wealth 
of its contents, in the biblical purity of its religious and 
ethical motives, does the difference between the Heidel- 
berg and Genevan catechisms appear. The Heidelberg 
clearly shows a closer approach to the German Lutheran 
Reformation. This is affirmed not so much on account 
of the doctrine of the sacraments or of the remnants of 
Melancthonianism in the Catechism, but especially on ac- 
count of the first two parts of the outline and the Christo- 
centric tendencies, according to which the Christian's only 
comfort is based not so much on knowledge or on the 
covenant of God, as on the one sacrifice of Christ on 
the cross. This is, of course, not an actual dogmatic 
difference from Calvin, but, nevertheless, a difference of 
tendency and of original religious feeling. 

On account of these various qualities the Catechism 
has obtained a certain ecumenical character within Re- 
formed Protestantism. A broad bridge leads from the 
Heidelberg to the Lutheran sister confession. Within 
the Reformed Church theologians have based on it dif- 
ferent theological systems (Voetius, Coccejus) and de- 
veloped various religious tendencies, orthodox and 
pietistic. This ecumenicity is based on the fact that 
the Heidelberg, leaning on the earlier Reformed cate- 
chisms, combines the deepest and most efficient religious 
and ethical motives of Reformed Protestantism, especially 
of its most important though not only branch, Calvinism, 
and presents them in biblical simplicity and purity. 



CHAPTER VII 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM AND CONTEM- 
PORARY THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 

IN the last chapter we differentiated the doctrines of 
the Catechism from Roman Catholicism and from 
various forms of Protestantism. A question of more 
vital interest to us is the relation of the Catechism to 
contemporary theological thought. Notwithstanding the 
fact that the Catechism was "the flower and fruit of 
the whole German and French Reformation," it was none 
the less a child of its age and in its fundamental posi- 
tions it was in harmony with the other confessions of 
the Reformation. It does not anticipate, directly or by 
implication, the theological thought of our day. It must 
be remembered, also, that there are different types of 
modern theology shading almost imperceptibly from con- 
servatism to mediationalism, from mediationalism to lib- 
eralism, and from liberalism to radicalism. We shall 
compare the doctrinal system of the Catechism with the 
theological positions set forth in works like William New- 
ton Clarke's An Outline of Christian Theology, William 
Adams Brown's Christian Theology in Outline, and 
Reville's Modern Christianity. All of these are liberal 
in spirit and have been favorably received by many minis- 
ters and teachers in Europe and in America. 

I. 

The: premise from which the Catechism proceeds is 
the doctrine of total depravity held by all the evangelical 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 107 



Reformers. Its first part is an exposition of the cry of 
Paul: "Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me 
out of the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24). Man's, 
depraved and helpless condition is traced to "the fall and 
disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in 
Paradise." Through the transgression of the first man 
"our nature became so corrupt, that we are all conceived 
and born in sin/' and are "'wholly unapt to any good and 
prone to all evil." Sin is transmitted from generation to 
generation, not simply as a tendency to evil, but as per- 
sonal guilt which God will punish "in just judgment in 
time and eternity." For "He is terribly displeased with 
our inborn as well as our actual sins." Authority for this 
doctrine is found in the first chapters of Genesis, in the 
epistles of Paul, and, indeed, in the Scriptures generally. 
Those who teach and those who learn the Catechism 
are supposed to accept its theory of total depravity as 
revealed truth. 

Back of the conception of human depravity is the 
dualism which is a characteristic feature of the old Pro- 
testant theology. It comes into view in a sharp contrast 
between the divine and the human, the natural and the 
supernatural, law and grace, works and faith, reason and 
revelation, the world and the church, the reprobate and 
the elect, the lost and the saved. The world at large is 
alienated from God and under the curse of the law. He 
has chosen a particular people to whom He makes known 
His will and for whom He has ordained His grace. 
The church is composed of the saints ; the world, of 
sinners. The former are predestined to eternal life; the 
latter, to eternal damnation. 

Modern theology accepts the reality and the univer- 
sality of sin as well as the solidarity of the race. These 
ideas are attested not only by the Scriptures, but by 



io8 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



human experience and by the facts of natural and social 
science. It does not, however, receive as final the ex- 
planation of the origin of sin in the third chapter of 
Genesis. The account of man's fall is regarded as a 
beautiful legend, rich in religious insight into his relation 
to God, into the nature of sin and the mode of its opera- 
tion in human life everywhere and always. Yet it has not 
the value of exact history or of a final and infallible solu- 
tion of the origin of evil. In denying the finality of this 
narrative theologians, however, do not ignore the fact of 
universal human experience which it seeks to explain. 
Every age has found sin a tragic reality and has en- 
deavored in one way or another to explain and abolish it. 
The Hindus and the Greeks considered it as ignorance, the 
Semites as disobedience; however it may have been con- 
ceived, it was recognized as a devastating force in the 
individual and the social life. Now, the responsibility 
for its existence was laid on the individual, and then, on 
the social order. To-day it is more and more clearly 
perceived that it is part of both the individual and the 
racial life. Both need to be transformed before either 
can be free from the power and the blight of sin. 

How sin originated no one can tell. Many hypoth- 
eses have been and are being advanced, yet none may be 
a satisfactory solution of the great mystery. Far more 
important is it that we recognize its presence and seek its 
destruction. While it is a universal fact, entering into 
the individual and the social life, it cannot, however, be 
maintained in the light of human experience that we 
are so far depraved, that "we are wholly unapt to any 
good and prone to all evil." There is a soul of goodness 
even in things evil. In the history and in the literature 
of the nations one finds splendid virtues alongside of 
loathsome vices, refined altruism alongside of brutal 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 



109 



egoism, heroic self-sacrifice alongside of reckless self- 
aggrandizement. Men are neither perfectly good nor 
totally depraved. They are a tangle of good and evil; 
now better, now worse, according to the stage of civiliza- 
tion which they have reached. The good is to be nur- 
tured and developed until the evil is brought under and 
finally overcome. In all ages prophets and reformers, 
though they emphasized man's depravity, nevertheless 
made their appeal to the reason and conscience of men, 
that they might quicken the latent divinity in them and 
gradually deliver them from the power of sin and death. 

The dualism of the old theology disappears in the 
new. God and man are essentially akin to each other; 
God seeks man and man gropes after God. The whole 
race, not a part of it, is under divine discipline. Each 
stagie of civilization and religion represents an effort of 
God to realize His life in the soul of men. The whole 
of life, as well as the whole of humanity, is under divine 
control. Man is fitted by nature to receive revelation, 
every human discovery is a divine revelation, and every 
human virtue is a fruit of divine grace. Containing 
the revelation of Jesus, the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily, the Bible is a unique book and the standard of 
faith; yet the literature of the nations, in which human 
life is mirrored in its social, moral, and religious forms, 
also contains divine revelation. "From the beginning 
God has written his gracious purpose in the heart of 
man and the disclosure which he has made of himself in 
Christ is recognized by those to whom it comes as the 
fulfilment of their own inner prophecy." 

Redemption is not an afterthought of God, following 
the tragedy of the fall, nor "an exception to God's or- 
dinary working, but the normal method of his activity." 
It is not confined to a group larger or smaller, whom 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



God has arbitrarily chosen from the rest, that he may 
make them subjects of his redemptive activity, but it con- 
cerns all men alike, though in different order and de- 
gree. "All history is part of a single process, in which 
God is training men for membership in his kingdom. In 
other words all history is the history of redemption." 

The training of humanity is a slow and wearisome 
process of ages. Religious and ethical changes are not 
made in a moment, but in centuries and millenniums. 
Even when there are apparent exceptions and sudden 
changes take place, they are the blossoming and fruit- 
age of latent forces which have been silently working 
for long periods of time. Man advances spiritually and 
ethically by gradual development, not by sporadic 
revolution. 

Consequently the history of mankind cannot be di- 
vided into two antithetic sections — a kingdom of evil 
and a kingdom of righteousness, the state of sin and 
damnation and the state of grace and salvation, the saints 
and the sinners. It must rather be conceived as consist- 
ing of stages in the upward progress of the race under 
the discipline of God; each stage having only a rela- 
tive degree of goodness, and being still hindered and 
hampered by the power of sin and the pang of guilt. 
The highest and ultimate stage is reached in Christianity, 
in which alone men find the completion of their aspira- 
tions and the crown of life. 

II 

In the second part of the Catechism the way of sal- 
vation is explained. Man, by reason of "his inborn as 
well as actual sins,'' is under the curse of the law and 
■subject to temporal and eternal punishment. "God is, 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 



ill 



indeed, merciful, but He is likewise just. His justice 
requires that sin which is committed against the most 
high majesty of God, be, also, punished with extreme, 
that is, with everlasting punishment both of body and 
soul" (Qu. n). The mercy of God cannot act before 
the justice of God is satisfied. Who can make full satis- 
faction for man's sin ? Not man himself ; "on the con- 
trary, we daily increase our guilt" (Qu. 13). Nor can 
any creature make satisfaction for us. One, who is true 
and righteous man and at the same time true God, must 
become our mediator and redeemer. For God requires 
that "the same human nature which has sinned should 
make satisfaction for sin"; yet only a sinless man can 
satisfy for sinners (Qu. 16). He must be true God, 
that by the power of his Godhead he might bear, in 
his manhood, the burden of God's wrath, and so obtain 
for and restore to us righteousness and life" (Qu. 17). 
Such a mediator and redeemer we have in Jesus Christ, 
who is revealed unto us in the Holy Gospel. In answer 
to Anselm's question Cur deus homo? (why did God be- 
come man?) the Catechism says, in substance: that He 
might make full satisfaction to the justice of God for 
our sins. This satisfaction was made by "the sacrifice 
of Christ on the cross" (Qu. 67). This is the theory 
of atonement as taught in the Catechism. It is in sub- 
stantial agreement with the doctrine of all the Protes- 
tant confessions. It is based upon a dualism in the na- 
ture of God. "Justice (holiness) and love represent in- 
dependent elements in the divine being, each requiring 
its own appropriate gratification." The justice of God 
expresses the opposition of the righteous God to sinful 
man, an opposition which requires the punishment of 
all unrepented sin; the mercy of God expresses his gra- 
cious purpose to redeem his elect through the forgive- 



U2 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

ness of their sins. These are two apparently inconsistent, 
if not contradictory, impulses. The chief problem of the 
theologian is to discover the way in which this incon- 
sistency can be overcome, and the love of God gratified 
consistently with his holiness. This was presumably 
accomplished through the atonement of Christ. 

The dualism in the attributes of God required the 
Trinitarian distinctions in the being of God. According 
to the satisfaction theory of the atonement, "God is able 
to harmonize the conflicts of the claims of justice and 
mercy in his own character, because as the second per- 
son of the Trinity, the representative of mercy, he is able 
to bear the penalty inflicted by himself as the first person, 
the representative of justice.'' The doctrine of the on- 
tologic trinity is made to serve a theory of redemption. 

Modern theology does not predicate a dualism in the 
character of God. His justice and His mercy are not 
two antithetic attributes, each requiring its own appro- 
priate gratification. God is conceived as holy love. Holi- 
ness denotes his moral excellence, and love is the motive 
and method in which his holiness comes to expression. 
There is no inconsistency between them. God is not 
holy when he punishes, and loving when he forgives, as 
in the old theology. God is holy in his love, and loving 
in his holiness. He is not gracious to some men and 
just to others, but always and everywhere both just and 
gracious. His attitude toward every man is that of 
the father in the parable of the prodigal. 

The motive of the incarnation is, therefore, to sat- 
isfy not the justice of God but the love of God, His 
whole being, which constantly goes forth toward men to 
save and to sanctify, and which could not be satisfied until 
it had done all that infinite love can do for the benefit of 
His creatures. The primary purpose of the incarnation 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 



113 



is revelation — the revelation of the grace and truth of 
God in the Word made flesh. "As many as received him, 
to them gave he the right to become children of God" 
(John 1:12). Redemption is effected by revelation, 
atonement by incarnation, and satisfaction is made of 
the whole nature of God and of the deepest needs and 
the highest aspirations of man. 

The death of Christ is not without profound signifi- 
cance. No one may be able to define its full meaning. 
It becomes more and more clear, however, that in His 
giving of Himself and His life for others, the world was 
taught the principle of vicarious redemption — the sacri- 
fice of self for others, of the individual for the good 
of all — and so a new way was opened and a new enthu- 
siasm inspired for the realization of a human brother- 
hood, the ideal underlying the conception of the unity 
and solidarity of mankind. 

Jesus thus becomes more than a divine expedient to 
satisfy eternal justice. He is the manifestation of God 
in human form. "In a sense far higher and truer than 
was the case with the older theology/' says Prof. W. A. 
Brown, "modern theology makes the person of Jesus 
normative for its thought of God. The old theology 
constructed its doctrine of Christ's person in the light 
of a preconceived conception of God. Jesus was two 
persons in one nature, a God who for the time had as- 
sumed the form of man, but whose real nature was un- 
affected thereby. Modern theology thinks of Jesus as a 
man, but a man through whom God's spirit has found 
such complete expression that it is possible to see in his 
character the perfect revelation of the heart of God. 
To believe in God, as modern theology conceives of 
him, means to extend throughout the range of universal 
experience that same gracious purpose and consistent 

8 



H4 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



character which Jesus has revealed within the condi- 
tions of human life." In other words, wherever and 
whenever one finds God, He is essentially like Jesus. In 
this sense Jesus pre-existed before all worlds, pervades 
the whole universe, and is the goal of all cosmic and 
historical processes. 

The ontological distinctions in the Godhead have not 
the same meaning in the new as in the old theology. 
The Trinity is a truth of Christian experience before it 
becomes an object of philosophical speculation. "The 
distinctions with which it deals concern man rather than 
God. They express different aspects in which God mani- 
fests himself to us as we contemplate different phases 
of his redemptive activity. He manifests himself in the 
order of nature, the natural processes which are the 
necessary presuppositions of religious experience. He 
manifests himself in historical revelation and supremely 
in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. He manifests 
himself, finally, in that personal experience through which 
we apprehend Jesus as the revelation of the God of all 
the world. In all three aspects it is the same gracious 
God who is revealed. The tragic contrast between the 
demand of justice and the appeal of mercy, which gives 
dramatic interest to the older doctrine, has completely 
disappeared" (Prof. Brown's interpretation of Dr. 
Clarke's Idea of God). 

Ill 

The; objective redemption wrought out by "the sac- 
rifice of Jesus Christ on the cross" is appropriated by 
men through faith. Not all men are saved by Christ, 
as they have perished by Adam; but "only such as by 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 



US 



true faith are ingrafted into Him and receive all His 
benefits" (Qu. 20). Faith is, indeed, more than assent 
to the truth in the Scriptures. It is, also, "a hearty 
trust, which the Holy Ghost works in me by the Gospel, 
that not only to others, but to me, also, forgiveness of 
sins, everlasting righteousness and salvation are freely 
given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of 
Christ's merits" (Qu. 21). 

When we seek for the object of faith, the Catechism 
offers two answers. According to the one it is "neces- 
sary for a Christian to believe" all that is promised us 
in the Gospel, which the articles of our catholic undoubted 
Christian faith teach us in sum (Qu. 21), — i.e. all that 
is contained in the Apostles' Creed and its exposition in 
the Catechism. This is clearly expressed in Question 59 : 
"But what does it help thee now, that thou believest all 
this?" "All this" refers to the questions explaining the 
Creed from 24-28. The answer says : "That I am right- 
eous in Christ before God, and an heir of eternal life." 
From this point of view faith resolves itself into the ac- 
ceptance of a system of doctrines as these are contained 
in the articles of the Creed. It involves far more, or 
from another point of view far less, than a hearty trust 
in the Heavenly Father as revealed in Jesus Christ. 

On the other hand, the object of faith is "the sacri- 
fice of Jesus Christ on the cross." This is most clearly 
taught in Question 67, though it runs through the whole 
Catechism. In this question we are told that the Word 
and the sacraments are designed "to direct our faith to 
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only 
ground of our salvation." For the "Holy Ghost teaches 
in the Gospel, and by the Holy Sacraments assures us, 
that our whole salvation stands in the one sacrifice of 
Christ made for us on the cross." From this point of view 



Ii6 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



faith resolves itself into trust in the efficacy of Christ's 
sacrificial death, by which God's justice is satisfied and 
on account of which "the perfect satisfaction, righteous- 
ness, and holiness of Christ" are imparted to the be- 
liever. We are not only to trust in the atonement which 
Jesus has accomplished between God and man, but to ac- 
cept, also, a definite theory according to which it was 
effected and its benefits are made over to us. The Gos- 
pel becomes the proclamation of the atoning sacrifice on 
Calvary and the benefits which accrue from it to at least 
a part, if not the whole, of mankind. 

Modern theology professes to take a broader view of 
Jesus Christ and his work, and accordingly of the ob- 
ject of faith. He came not merely to offer an atoning 
sacrifice, but to show men the Father. The "Word and 
the Sacraments" are "to direct faith" not only to "the 
sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, as the only ground of our 
salvation," but to the grace and truth of the Heavenly 
Father made manifest in the life, death, and resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ. Faith is trust in the Father who 
is ever with us, watches over us, provides for us, hears 
our prayers, forgives our sins, directs our lives, and re- 
ceives us into His eternal home. Reville says: "In the 
gospel of Jesus God is the heavenly Father who forgives 
the penitent sinner because He is merciful and ready 
to forgive. To pardon the prodigal in the parable it 
was not necessary for the older son to be crucified." 
God will not inflict "the burden of his eternal wrath 
against sins" upon the innocent in order that he may re- 
deem the guilty — a conception which is contrary to God's 
nature as revealed by Jesus and is abhorrent to the en- 
lightened moral sense of our age. Yet God suffers for 
the sinner, even as a father for his wayward child. It 
is the suffering of love for the lost. The sinner, also, 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 



117 



suffers for his sin, but it is the just punishment of the 
guilty for his transgression. The innocent suffer with 
the guilty. Not even the Father can save the prodigal 
before the prodigal has responded freely to the deepest 
yearnings of his soul and cried : "I will arise and go unto 
my father." No atonement without suffering — the un- 
speakable anguish of the Father for his rebellious child, 
the unspeakable grief of the child for his sin against the 
Father. The sinner's guilt is expressed in the psalmist's 
cry: "Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned!" 

Faith, as defined by modern theology, is not simply 
trust in a series of propositions explaining the facts of 
redemption, or in a great transaction, or in a theory of 
atonement; all of which may grow out of faith. But 
it is living fellowship of the soul with God as made 
known to us in the life and the teachings of Jesus Christ. 
This fellowship is brought about by a proclamation of 
"the Word of Life." "That which we have seen and 
heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have 
fellowship with us; yea, and our fellowship is with the 
Father, and with his son Jesus Christ" (I John 1:3). 
Thus, by the mystical power of the Christ abiding in the 
Christians and made known in words and deeds, faith is 
generated in men, and men are brought into the fellow- 
ship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. They 
become partakers of the divine life even as the branches 
share the life of the vine. A conception of salvation 
and of faith, it is claimed, far more vital and ethical, 
more in accordance with the teaching of Jesus and the 
moral sense of men, than that which underlies the satis- 
faction theory of atonement in the old Protestant the- 
ology. The Catechism, in more than one question, points 
toward this larger view of faith and of the Christian 
fellowship, yet its controlling idea from beginning to end 



Ii8 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



is the saving efficacy of "the one sacrifice of Christ made 
for us on the cross" (Qu. 67). 

IV 

In its conception of Christian life and piety the Cate- 
chism is individualistic and other-worldly. These char- 
acteristics appear from the beginning to the end of the 
book. The individual seeks "comfort" for himself "in 
life and in death." He is taught the greatness of his 
sin and misery. By faith he is assured "that not only 
to others, but to him also, forgiveness of sins, everlast- 
ing righteousness and salvation are freely given by God" 
(Qu. 21). The eternal Father of the Lord Jesus Christ 
is his Father, who will provide for him, defend him, and 
turn all things to his good in this vale of tears. At His 
second coming He will take him, "with all his chosen 
ones to Himself into Heavenly joy and glory" (Qu. 52). 
The Holy Ghost makes him by true faith partaker of 
Christ and all His benefits. He is assured that he is, 
and forever shall remain, a living member of the same. 

The social order is not recognized as an object of 
redemption. The Christian is, indeed, in the world, but 
he longs to be delivered from it; and while he is in it 
he must suffer its hardships and fight its temptations 
until the Lord comes. Yea, it is "a vale of tears" in 
which our only comfort is that "whatever evil God sends 
upon us He will turn to our good." He rules and over- 
rules the world for His glory and for the benefit of "His 
chosen ones." There is not a single suggestion that the 
family, the state, the industrial system, and the civic 
order are to be transformed by the power of the Gospel, 
and that the kingdoms of the world are to be controlled 
by the spirit of the Christ. 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 



119 



The Church, that is, "the chosen communion" which 
the Son of God by His word and Spirit, gathers, defends, 
and preserves for Himself unto everlasting life, out of 
the whole human race, from the beginning to the end 
of time (Qu. 54), takes the place of the social order. 
It is essentially different from it. The Church will con- 
tinue, but the social order will be destroyed. The in- 
terest of the Christian centers in the Church, not in the 
social order. According to Question 55, he is to "feel 
himself bound to use his gifts, readily and cheerfully, for 
the advantage and welfare of other members" The 
"other members" belong not to the social community of 
which the believer is a part, but to the "chosen com- 
munion" of which he is and forever shall remain a mem- 
ber. The petition, Thy Kingdom come, in the Lord's 
Prayer is defined (Qu. 123) to mean the government 
of God's word and spirit, so that "we (all Christians) 
may submit ourselves unto Thee always more and more," 
that the Church may be preserved and increased, that the 
works of the devil may be destroyed. All this is to con- 
tinue "until the full coming of Thy Kingdom wherein 
Thou shalt be all in all." The coming of the kingdom, 
in this sense, is wholly different from a transformation 
of society, as it exists in different lands, into a Christian 
order. It is something that is to be established at the 
end of the age on the ruins of the world by the power 
of the coming Christ. His "chosen ones" in the church 
militant and in the church triumphant, and only they, 
will share the privileges and joys of the heavenly regime. 

With this view of salvation, of the secular order, of 
the Church, and of the Kingdom, naturally goes a cer- 
tain type of piety, in which there is a passive as well as 
an active spirit. The Christian is to bear patiently the 
ills of life, because he knows that God will turn to his 



120 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



good whatever evil He sends upon him, and because he 
looks forward to a glorious deliverance and everlasting 
joy. He therefore suffers, trusts, and hopes. In view of 
divine providence we are to ''be patient in adversity, 
thankful in prosperity ; and for what is future have good 
confidence in our faithful God and Father that no crea- 
ture shall separate us from His love" (Qu. 28). In all 
our sorrows and persecutions w r e are to await, with up- 
lifted head, the Judge from heaven, "who shall cast all 
His and my enemies into everlasting condemnation, but 
shall take me, with all His chosen ones, to Himself, into 
heavenly joy and glory" (Qu. 52). 

The Catechism, however, does not fail to sound an 
aggressive and even a militant note in the Christian life. 
The believer is a "member of Christ and thus a partaker 
of His anointing," for four reasons : that he may confess 
His name ; may present himself a living sacrifice of 
thankfulness to Him ; may with free conscience fight 
against sin and the devil in this life; and hereafter, in 
eternity, reign with Him over all creatures" (Qu. 32). 
The motive for good works is also fourfold: "that with 
our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God 
for His blessing, that He may be glorified through us; 
that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by the 
fruits thereof, and that by our godly walk we may win 
others, also., to Christ" (Qu. 86). 

Good works are defined in detail in the third part 
of the Catechism, based on the Ten Commandments and 
the Lord's Prayer. In the two tables of the Law we are 
taught the "duties we owe to God" and "the duties we 
owe to our neighbor." The duties to God are sum- 
marized in Question 94 : "that I rightly acknowledge the 
only true God. trust in Him alone, with all humility and 
patience expect all good from Him only, and love, fear 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 



121 



and honor Him with my whole heart." The duties to our 
neighbor are set forth in passages like the following: 
"to give Christian alms" (Qu. 103) ; "to show all honor, 
love and faithfulness to my father and mother, and to 
all in authority over me" (Qu. 104) ; "God requires us 
to love our neighbor as ourselves, to show patience, 
peace, meekness, mercy and kindness towards him, and, 
so far as we have power, to prevent his hurt; also to 
do good to our enemies" (Qu. 107) ; "God views as theft 
also all wicked devices whereby we seek to draw to our- 
selves our neighbor's goods, whether by force or with 
show of right, such as unjust weights, ells, measures, 
wares, coins, usury, or any means forbidden of God" 
(Qu. no); "So far as I can, defend and promote my 
neighbor's good name" (Qu. 112). These are moral 
ideals of the highest order and constitute one of the finest 
parts of the Catechism. 

The militant note is heard in Question 32: "And [I] 
may with free conscience fight against sin and the devil 
in this life." In Question 105 the sword is entrusted to 
the magistrate, "to restrain murder." 

What is the purpose of this life of chastity, obedience, 
honesty, almsgiving, benevolence, and warfare against 
sin and the devil? It is for the attainment of personal 
holiness, the alleviation of man's misery, the certification 
of the truth of faith, the winning of others to Christ, 
and the glorification of God through the virtues of His 
people. These are profound motives for Christian Hy- 
ing. Yet their end is not the gradual transformation of 
the social order into a Christian society, but a prepara- 
tion of "His chosen ones" to receive the Lord at His com- 
ing, and "hereafter, in eternity, to reign with Him over 
all creatures" (Qu. 32). Here the Catechism, magnifi- 
cent as are its religious and ethical teachings, is bound 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



by the individualistic and other-worldly conceptions of its 
time. With its fine emphasis on a personal experience 
of salvation and a life conforming to the will of God, 
it does not intone, with equal force, the necessity of so- 
cial service which finds its fontal source in Christ's 
revelation of God and His passion for humanity. The 
contrast between the individualism of the past and the 
sense of social relationship in the present is clearly 
drawn by Prof. Wallace: "A single life may find salva- 
tion for itself, but it may be doubted whether such sal- 
vation is worth the trouble. It [i.e. the change to mod- 
ern sense of social relationship] is a transition in human 
history which can be compared with nothing less than 
the transition from the astronomy of Ptolemy to the as- 
tronomy of Copernicus. Instead of a center of interest 
fixed in the individual life, round which, as a satellite, 
the social order moves, the problem of the individual is 
now seen to lie within a vastly greater system, to whose 
laws its orbit must conform, and as a part of which his 
own life must be fulfilled. How to adjust one's per- 
sonal aims within the organism of the common good; 
how to realize one's self as a member of the social body ; 
how to secure the stability of the social order by the 
cooperative consecration of the individual — that is the 
essence of the modern social question, and it delivers 
one from the Ptolemaic ethics of self-centered morality 
and sets one in a Copernican universe of social unity 
and service. It is not only a new social science, but a 
new social conscience ; a categorical summons to the 
person to fulfill his function within the social whole." 

The emphasis in modern theology on social, as well 
as individual, redemption is a necessary consequence of a 
change in the conception of God growing out of a clearer 
comprehension of the revelation of Jesus. Christian soci- 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 



123 



ology is rooted in Christian theology, and is its flower 
and fruit. The professors of systematic and of practical 
theology are expounding the same revelation of God, the 
one in theoretic and the other in practical form. The 
God whom Jesus reveals in his life and teaching not only 
awakens in men a new sense of the infinite worth of the 
human soul, but also a new passion for social service. 
He awakens in us sorrow, not only for our own sins, 
but also for the sins of our fellows. We shall not be 
satisfied merely with our own salvation, but with the sal- 
vation of the world. The kingdom which Jesus pro- 
claimed is a brotherhood of men and nations united by 
the everlasting Father. As a son of God the individual 
man, of whatever race or class, gains a new social value. 
He is the equal of every other man in the world. He 
is no longer an isolated individual. By the doctrine of 
brotherhood, or the divine family, he comes into vital 
connection with every other man, and there is founded 
a new conception of the solidarity of the race. The 
Church, therefore, is not an end in itself, but an organ 
for the realization of the kingdom of Christ on earth. 
In the words of Henry Churchill King, "the prayer, 
'Thy will be done,' is no cringing cry; it is no slave's 
submission to superior strength; it is no plaintive wail; 
it is no outcry of an enfeebled, broken will, as we may 
be sometimes tempted to think. Rather it is the high- 
est reach of a will superbly disciplined to a world's task, 
enlightened by a reason that can think the thoughts of 
God, inspired by an imagination that sees the ultimate 
consummation, warmed by a heart that feels the needs 
of men and glows with the greatness of the Father's 
purpose for them" (Education and National Character, 
p. 9). "The single life," says Prof. Peabody, "has be- 
come uninterpretable except in its relation to the life of 



124 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



others. The economics of laissez faire is displaced by 
the economics of combination; the ethics of self-culture 
is succeeded by the ethics of social service; and religion, 
instead of setting itself to save the person out of the 
wreck of a lost world, summons the person to bring the 
world itself, like a seaworthy vessel, safe to its port. 
The world, as a book which was among the first signs 
of the new spirit affirms in its title, 'is the object of 
redemption.' " 

Men's motives will be commensurate with God's mo- 
tives. The scope of His love is as wide as the universe 
and comprehends humanity. He does not confine His 
gracious activity to a single nation nor to a "chosen com- 
munion," gathered out of the whole human race, which 
he defends and preserves and finally takes "to Himself 
into heavenly joy and glory." "We cannot think of him," 
says Prof. Clarke, "except as universal in his relations. 
He must be one God equally related to all souls and to 
all existence." He is seeking the redemption and the 
perfection of humanity. All history is a redemptive 
process; and the goal of the universe and of humanity 
is the realization of the Fatherhood of God and the 
brotherhood of men. This end is gradually achieved by 
personal effort, by social amelioration, by the discipline 
of life. The assurance of ultimate victory and the pe- 
rennial inspiration for continued endeavor are found in 
the essential divinity of humanity and in the essential 
humanity of divinity. Man must have God to be truly 
man; God must have man to be truly God. Some day 
the prodigal will come to himself, and some day the 
Father will cast His arms around the penitent son, and 
His joy will be full. With a vision of God and of man 
such as Jesus had, He made known to the Jews the ulti- 
mate motive of His life, yea, of every Christian life, when 



THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT 



125 



he said : "My Father worketh even until now, and I 
work" (John 5 117). 

If God is not working in the universe toward a defi- 
nite goal, and the world is evil and beyond the hope of 
redemption ; if He limits His grace to a chosen com- 
munion, and all who are beyond its bounds are under 
condemnation; if the Church is the ark on the troubled 
sea of life which alone God guards and guides with 
special care into the eternal haven; then the scope of 
men's activity will indeed be coordinate with that of 
God. They will seek their own salvation and, perchance, 
the salvation of those whom God has chosen. They will 
live in the Church and pray for its welfare; the world 
beyond is not an object of redemption. There is no 
inspiration to labor for a hopeless cause, a cause for 
which even God is not working. The Church becomes 
self-centered and, instead of giving its life for the world, 
it saves itself and looks forward to a glorious consum- 
mation in heaven. So long as men believe in a God who 
seeks His glory in the salvation of a part of the race, 
whose kingdom is beyond the world and not in it, they 
will have neither enthusiasm for humanity nor passion 
for social service. 

When we catch a glimpse of His hand in the vast 
universe, when we feel the throbs of His pulsating heart 
in the bosom of Jesus, when we hear the cry of His 
boundless love for His rebellious sons, when we discern 
His infinite patience wooing and winning wayward hu- 
manity, when we behold Him with His everlasting per- 
sistence going after the lost until He finds him, who 
of us will not take up his cross, live for his fellows, 
and die with his Lord? "My Father worketh even until 
now, and I work ! " 



CHAPTER VIII 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM AND RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION— THE OLD CONCEPTION OF 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

RELIGION and education have always been closely 
associated. However crude a religion may have 
been, it has usually been propagated by educational 
methods, perchance equally crude. For the conception 
of the nature of religion largely determines the method 
of its propagation. If religion is a series of sacred 
transactions before God, conducted by an authorized per- 
son in behalf of a family, tribe, or nation, religious edu- 
cation is reduced to a witnessing of ritualistic perform- 
ances and an observance of religious rubrics. If religion 
is a compend of divinely revealed dogmas and precepts, 
authoritatively promulgated, religious education requires 
assent to doctrine and obedience to rules in the domestic, 
social, and ecclesiastical relations of life. If religion is 
a state of mind or a succession of ecstatic emotions, 
superinduced by ascetic practices or dramatic represen- 
tations, religious education becomes a discipline in mo- 
nastic rules or an initiation into sacred mysteries. If 
religion is the fellowship of men with God through faith, 
and of men with one another in love, religious education 
has for its end the manifestation of the living God and 
the realization of His life in the lives of His people. "Ye 
therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is 
perfect" (Matt. 5:4), is the goal set for men by the 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



127 



greatest teacher of religion. Godlikeness is the supreme 
purpose of religious education. 

I 

The Christian religion was originally established and 
spread by educational methods. "J esus came into Gali- 
lee preaching the gospel (good tidings) of God" (Mk. 
1:14). He appealed through his message to the reason 
and conscience of his hearers; and many of them be- 
lieved. He spent his brief ministry in "teaching in their 
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, 
and healing all manner of diseases" (Matt. 4:23). The 
Sermon on the Mount and the parables are models of 
pedagogic art. God is made known to men in concrete 
symbols taken from daily life and in words which the 
common people loved to hear. He not only taught the 
multitudes, but he chose certain men that "they might be 
with him, and that he might send them forth to preach" 
(Mk. 3:13). The command in Matt. 28:19-20, whether 
spoken by Jesus or not, is true to the spirit of his gospel ; 
and his first followers faithfully fulfilled it even from 
Jerusalem to Rome. "The early Christian literature, 
such as the Epistles, the records in Acts, and the Didache 
or Teaching of the Apostles, are all the products of the 
teaching motive, and all bear testimony to the prominence 
of the teacher and his work." The leaders in the prim- 
itive congregations were at first not executive or admin- 
istrative officers, but men who preached and taught — 
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. 
Their function was "to fit his people for the ministry, 
and for the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 
4:12). 



128 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



In course of time Christianity in its original form 
underwent serious modifications. The simple gospel 
became mysterious dogma. The community of disciples 
and brethren was turned into an institution of priests 
and laymen. The breaking of bread and the prayers 
were transformed into sacraments and rituals. Yet, 
even then, religious education was not abandoned, though 
its character naturally conformed to the ruling concep- 
tion of Christianity. The catechetical schools of the 
Fathers, the universities and the monasteries of the 
schoolmen and monks, the sermons, tracts, bible transla- 
tions, commentaries, confessions, and catechisms of the 
Reformers — all bear witness to the continuity of re- 
ligious education through the centuries of Christian 
history. 

A comparative study of the educational motives and 
methods of Catholicism and of Protestantism will enable 
us to understand the significance and consequences of the 
ideals and program of so progressive an organization as 
the Religious Education Association organized in this 
country in 1903. 

II 

The Catholic system of education is based upon a dis- 
tinctive conception of God and of His relation to the 
world. God is located in the heavens, and the world 
is separated from God. He is a king and judge who has 
ordained laws, and dispenses justice. Men by nature 
live in ignorance and sin. They have neither ability to 
know the truth, nor power to obey the law, of God. 
Both the natural and the social order are helplessly 
depraved, alienated from God and under the sentence 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



129 



of death. The hymn of Bernard of Morlaix, of the 
12th century, describes the feeling of devout men of 
that time: — 

"The world is very evil 

The times are waxing late, 
Be sober and keep vigil, 
The Judge is at the gate." 

In the bosom of the natural order God mercifully 
established a supernatural institution, the Ciintas Dei 
(the City of God), on earth. In it alone are to be found 
saving knowledge and saving grace. They are entrusted 
to a divinely ordained hierarchy who are guardians of 
truth, dispensers of grace, and lords of men. Men are 
saved from the world and protected in the world by 
submitting to the sacraments, by assenting to the dogmas, 
and by observing the ordinances of the Church. Both 
the individual and the social order are to be brought 
under the control of a supernatural institution. Only 
then is the world made tolerable until the final deliver- 
ance, for which the believers pray and wait : 

"O come, O come Emmanuel, 
And ransom captive Israel ; 
That mourns in lowly exile here, 
Until the Son of God appear." 

Latin Hymn of the 12th Century. 

The highest type of piety is to flee from the world 
and to find solace and peace in ascetic practices and in 
monastic seclusion. The theology of Catholicism finds 
its ethical expression in monasticism. Luther describes 
a picture of his time, illustrating the superiority of the 
monastic life. A ship is sailing heavenward. In it, as 
passengers, are priests and monks. The laymen are 
swimming in the sea, some holding to ropes thrown from 
the ship, others helplessly sinking in the waves of world- 

9 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



liness. Authority and obedience, world-flight and self- 
mortification are the notes of mediaeval piety. The 
life of solitary contemplation is the highest ideal. 
Thomas Aquinas longs for the peace of a life dedicated 
solely to the contemplation of God. Even when works 
of charity are done and social service is rendered, the 
motive is to win favor with God and to attain personal 
holiness, not to transform the world and to make the 
will of God the law of the nations. "Social conditions 
are accepted as if man had no power to alter them" 
(Eucken). The two orders, the secular and the sacred, 
are sharply separated and even mutually exclusive. 
Thomas Aquinas says: "Man is so placed between the 
things of this world and spiritual goods, in which eternal 
blessedness consists, that the more he depends on the one 
of the two, the more he is removed from the other, and 
vice versa." "The highest wisdom," according to 
Thomas a Kempis, "is to rise to heaven through con- 
tempt of the world." 

The mediaeval view of the universe and the position 
of leadership assumed by the church are inseparably 
related. "The teaching of the church," says Kuno Fis- 
cher (Descartes and his School, Eng. tr., p. 133), was 
identified in the closest manner with the system of Aris- 
totle and with the Ptolemaic astronomy. Nay, more, 
it seemed to have the authority of Scripture. The two 
fit each other as scene and action; the earth the center 
of the world; the appearance of God on the earth; the 
Church the Civitas Dei on earth, the center of humanity ; 
hell under the earth, heaven above it; the damned in 
hell, the saved beyond the stars, where the orders of the 
heavenly hierarchy ascend to the throne. The whole 
structure of limited and local conceptions totters and 
trembles as soon as the earth ceases to be the center of 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 131 

the universe and heaven its dome." 

The mediaeval system of education, which is assumed 
to be essentially religious, rests upon these theological 
and philosophical presuppositions. The individual is 
part of a lost world and in his natural estate must perish 
with it. His only hope is to be saved from the world 
through the divine institution of salvation, the Catholic 
Church. In her fellowship he finds the means of grace 
and discipline in righteousness. The goal of his endeav- 
ors is to exalt the Church and to reach the celestial 
home — 

"O sweet and blessed country 
The home of God's elect! 
O sweet and blessed country, 
That eager hearts expect." 

Bernard of Horlaix, 1150. 

All education, according to this view, is necessarily 
under the control of the Church. The teachers are either 
priests or monks. The aim of education is personal 
salvation by bringing men to assent to divine dogmas 
and to obey divine precepts. The spirit of education is 
dogmatic, not scientific; monarchical, not democratic; 
individualistic, not social; other-worldly, without vital 
interest in this world. It is an attempt to impose an 
order of thought and action upon men, rather than to 
educe it from men. It has little regard for the individual 
reason or conscience. It does not develop personality, 
but domineers it; it does not transform society, but lords 
over it. The highest function of men is to conform 
to a supernatural system to which they have no vital 
relation. They assent to dogmas, obey ordinances, and 
observe rituals, not because these forms are a spontaneous 
expression of an inner experience, but because they are 
an arbitrary mandate of a supernatural sovereign. The 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



acme of piety is to glorify an institution rather than to 
develop manhood; to save oneself rather than to save 
the world. When a man finds that his conscience, rea- 
son, and spiritual aspirations contravene the prescribed 
system, he gives evidence of a perverted will, and, unless 
he repents and submits, he is on the way to perdition. 
All the independence of the individual is surrendered and 
the Church becomes the conscience of mankind. The 
reason is hedged in, the will is curbed, and the feelings 
are uttered in stereotyped forms. 

The Catholic Church, as the representative of God on 
earth, insists on having all education under its super- 
vision. It opposes the public school because it is secular 
and irreligious. It discourages scientific investigation 
and democratic government, save as these are conducted 
under its control. Individual initiative, whether in the 
realm of thought or of action, is encouraged only when it 
remains within the bounds set by ecclesiastical authority. 
The "laity" never reach the age of discretion, but remain 
"children of Mother Church" with prescribed readings 
and father confessors to the end. A magnificent system 
this for the making of a powerful institution and great 
hierarchs, but not for the making of men and nations, 
independent, true, and free. 

From the cradle to the grave the Church instructs and 
directs its members. The order of its life is embodied 
in the sacramental, the penitential, and the liturgical 
system. In the home, the school, and the sanctuary, 
through the feast days and fast days of the church year, 
by artistic symbols, by processions, by catechisms, and 
by prayer-books, the child is reared a loyal member of 
the Church, and is in perpetual training for the beatific 
vision. 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



133 



III 

The Reformation marks a great change in the con- 
ception of Christianity and of human life. The religious 
reform was closely related to the general transformation 
in intellectual and social conditions. A new era in the 
history of mankind was dawning. The impulses toward 
freedom of thought and action, which had been repressed 
for centuries by priest and prince, were given wide 
scope in the revival of learning and in the expansion of 
industry and commerce. The gloom of the mediaeval 
saint gave way to the joy of the modern humanist. 
Men's minds awoke as if from a long sleep. "Life be- 
came more spontaneous/' says Eucken, "free thoughts 
of God and the world, and a belief in a spiritual and a 
divine life even beyond the pale of ecclesiastical forms, 
arose and created the joyful mood of a fresh dawn. The 
eye was opened to the beauty of the surrounding world, 
while thought and reflection were captivated by the 
wealth of natural objects. Moreover, radical social 
changes were begun which were the harbingers of a new 
order. The feudal system was inwardly broken ; a pow- 
erful middle class arose, and with it the influence and 
honor of the burgher's toil increased; still other social 
strata sought recognition, and demanded a better stand- 
ard of living. All this finally led to a change of ultimate 
beliefs." 

Yet the Renaissance with all its fine impulses and its 
fulness of life would never have evolved into a religious 
reformation. A sovereign personality, a prophet, was 
needed who had a new vision of God, who was stirred 
by the spirit of a new age, and was strong enough to 
bring the progressive forces under the control of a relig- 
ion in which fellowship with God was not a hindrance 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



to the unfolding of personality, but a presupposition for 
the realization of the highest type of individual and social 
life. Such a personality was Luther, in whom all the 
spiritual currents that coursed through the Reformation 
became flesh and blood. 

He struck radical and modern notes; he was a keen 
critic of Mediaevalism, and the foremost prophet of 
Modernism. He had a passionate longing for immediate 
access to God, a burning desire for personal assurance of 
salvation. He found a new and living way to the throne 
of grace through Jesus Christ revealed in the Scriptures. 
He put his trust in divine grace and not in human merits. 
A miracle of love in Christ Jesus has spanned the other- 
wise impassable gulf, and man is a child of God again. 
Every believer shares in the prophetic, priestly, and 
kingly prerogatives of his Lord. He has the right to 
read and interpret the Scriptures, to approach God with- 
out the mediation of Virgin, saint, or priest, and to take 
part in the government and administration of the church. 

The necessity of a mediating hierarchy, whether in 
heaven or on earth, of an elaborate sacramental system, 
and of the priestly power of absolution, was no longer 
felt by the man who had found pardon and peace by 
grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The penitential sys- 
tem, which had become a burden on men's shoulders 
greater than they could bear, works of merit by fasting 
or by pilgrimages, by masses or by prayers and invoca- 
tions, the assumption of authority of a jure divino 
papacy or episcopacy, had lost their meaning for one 
who had entered upon "the freedom of a Christian man." 

The new relation of the Christian to God, which 
Luther defined in his tract on The Freedom of a Chris- 
tian Man, not only liberated him from the bondage of 
ordinances and the rudiments of the world, from the 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



135 



arbitrary impositions of kings and prelates, from the 
pain of guilt and from the terror of judgment, but it 
also brought him into a new relation to man and to the 
natural world about him. The Christian is lord of all 
and subject to none by faith; he is lord of none and 
servant of all by love. He is free to obey the will of 
God and bound to serve his fellowmen. "From faith," 
says Luther, "there flow love and joy in the Lord, and 
from love flows a glad and free spirit anxious to do 
service to others without thought of gratitude, of praise 
or blame, of gain or loss." He felt constrained to render 
social service by the work and sacrifice of Christ. "As 
Christ offered Himself to me, so will I give myself to 
my neighbor as a sort of Christ (quondam Christum), 
in order not to do anything in this life except what I 
see is necessary, useful, and salutary to my neighbor, 
since I myself have a superabounding share in all good 
things in Christ." None felt more keenly than Luther 
the wrongs done to Germany by Rome, and none did 
more to kindle the fire of national enthusiasm and foster 
national self-respect. In his Appeal to the German No- 
bility he published a program of social and moral reform, 
and throughout his life he took a keen interest in the 
political affairs of his country. "Thus, although in 
theory," says Prof. Thos. Hall (History of Bthics within 
Organized Christianity, p. 478), Luther remained en- 
tangled in the other-worldliness of the monastic concep- 
tion of life, he in point of fact was the foremost herald of 
the new message, that is yet as old as the Old Testament 
prophets of the eighth century, and the prayer of our 
Lord, that God's kingdom is to come to this earth, and 
that here his perfect reign is to be made clear in the 
moral and political worlds." 

He put personal experience of divine grace and the 



136 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



witness of the Holy Spirit in place of dogmatic author- 
ity and implicit faith. He abolished the line of separa- 
tion between the sacred and the secular. He put life 
before doctrine and vital righteousness before formal 
correctness. He taught men as no one had taught it 
before, that "the daily task is sacred." In hymn and 
sermon, in work and life, he proclaimed anew the old 
message, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, re- 
joice" — a profounder joy in life than even humanism 
could inspire. 

Yet, with all his modern sympathies and intuitions, it 
is perfectly vain to claim that Luther, or any one of the 
Reformers, belonged wholly to the modern world. He 
was in many respects, as Troeltsch says, eine mittelalter- 
liche Brscheinung (a mediaeval phenomenon). Both 
Luther and Calvin carried over into historic Protestant- 
ism many elements which have since become a serious 
hindrance to the logical and practical application of its 
original principles. Yea, the usefulness of the Reform- 
ers to their age may have depended upon their sharing 
the narrowness and superstition of their generation. 
They accepted the mediaeval view of the world (cos- 
mology) ; they contrasted sharply the natural and the 
supernatural, law and grace; they emphasized, far more 
than Catholicism, the total depravity of the natural man ; 
in spite of occasional utterances to the contrary, they had 
a pessimistic view of the world and little if any hope of 
the redemption of the social order. "The somber medi- 
aeval despondency, with its world-flight and fundamental 
despair, is never wholly absent from any period of 
Luther's life, though it deepens toward the close. The 
world is a vale of tears (Jammerthal) and is intended 
by God to be only a preparation for His other world, as 
a carpenter builds a scaffold for a house" (Thos. Hall). 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



*37 



Luther held to the infallibility of the letter of Scripture, 
though not consistently ; and, in spite of his experience of 
faith in the living Christ he was inclined to insist on the 
acceptance of a series of dogmas as a prerequisite of 
salvation. He taught, as no one else, the doctrine of 
justification by grace alone, and yet he came dangerously 
near to the mediaeval doctrine of the efficacy of the sac- 
raments. He wrote a classic on Christian freedom, and 
yet his ecclesiasticism jeopardized the moral supremacy 
of the spiritual man. Both Luther and Calvin, though 
in different degrees, held that the Bible contained a closed 
system of doctrine handed down to the Church for safe- 
keeping. In this respect they were as much ecclesiastics 
as Anselm or Thomas Aquinas. 

In the first generation of the Reformation one wel- 
comes with joy the sprouts and buds of the springtide 
of a coming era; but before they open into flower or 
ripen into fruit, many of them are nipped by the frosts 
of a new scholasticism which settles over the churches 
of the Saxon and the Genevan Reformer. Christianity 
ceased to be interpreted in terms of life. Trust in a 
person, freedom, the joy of living which neither com- 
promises with the world nor flees from it, but controls it, 
and social service inspired by the hope of realizing God's 
kingdom on earth even as it now exists in heaven — 
these notes of vital religion became a faint echo in the 
churches. Christianity was again resolved into a sum 
of doctrine, a code of morals, and a round of ceremonies. 
With the decline of living faith, begotten by a personal 
experience of God in Christ, arose a false confidence in 
the letter of the Scriptures, the efficacy of the sacraments, 
and the authority of dogmas and institutions. 

All this determined the aim, method, and spirit of re- 
ligious education in Protestantism. To teach the doc- 



138 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



trines, to enjoin the precepts, to administer the sacra- 
ments, to keep men pure in an evil world and prepare 
them for heaven, and to save them from perdition — this 
was the ultimate motive and goal of parents, ministers 
and teachers. Much that belonged to the Catholic re- 
gime was renounced and denounced, and yet, in principle, 
Catholicism and 17th century Protestantism were not far 
apart. Both conceived of religion as a supernatural sci- 
ence, a system of doctrine and a scheme of life imposed 
upon men from without. Both required absolute submis- 
sion, without protest by reason or conscience, to an insti- 
tution or a dogma. Both looked upon the world and the 
natural man as hopelessly corrupt and perverted. Both 
had a static rather than a dynamic view of the universe 
and of human history. Both believed in a God far 
removed from the world, with which He communicated 
at intervals either through a hierarchy or through a book. 
Both find the cardinal motive of Christian living in the 
hope of salvation after death and in the peace and joy of 
heaven. Both seek to bring the world into subjection 
to the Church, instead of diffusing throughout the world 
the spirit of the Christ. 

We cannot find a better description of the spirit and 
aim of religious education of the older Protestantism 
than that of Dr. John W. Nevin in his introduction to 
the Tercentenary Edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, 
1863. He describes two schemes which have been fol- 
lowed since the Reformation — the Baptistic or Puritanic, 
and the Churchly and Sacramental. Before he discusses 
either system he shows that "education supposes always, 
the existence and presence potentially of that which it 
is expected to bring out in the way of actual development 
and growth. As a stone cannot be cultivated into a 
plant, and as no training again causes a plant to become 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



139' 



an animal; so in the spiritual world also it is not pos- 
sible, by mere nurture of any sort, to carry the evolution 
of life beyond the principles and germs which are already 
imbedded in its own constitution." The powers or pos- 
sibilities of the Christian life are not in any way latent 
in human nature "in its fallen Adamic state." That 
which is born of the flesh is flesh. The attempt to train 
men in their natural condition into Christianity by mere 
teaching and discipline, as they might be trained, for ex- 
ample, into the knowledge of some worldly art or science, 
would well deserve to be rejected as false and vain. "The 
idea of educational religion in this form would be neither 
more nor less than Pelagianism without disguise." Both 
the Baptistic and the Churchly conception of religious edu- 
cation are based upon the assumption of the absence of 
potent Christian elements in the natural man which may 
be cultivated and developed, and of the necessity of intro- 
ducing into man's nature a divine life which is capable 
of nurture and training. How and when this new life 
is begotten in the individual is conceived in widely differ- 
ent ways in the two types of Protestantism. 

From the Baptistic point of view our children must 
be looked upon, and must be taught to look upon them- 
selves, as without lot or portion in God's family- — "the 
children of wrath even as others" — until the time they are 
awakened and converted by the Spirit of God operating 
upon them singly and separately outside of the Church 
altogether. Religious education up to the time of con- 
version, if at all practised, is no more than an outward 
discipline intended to prepare the way for Christ at some 
future time, or a moral training for the purposes only 
of the present life — not a bringing up of children as 
members of the Church in the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord. In this system stress is laid on extraordinary- 



i 4 o THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

and sporadic spiritual experiences, rather than on a regu- 
lar growth in faith and piety under the nurture of the 
home and the school and through the ministrations of 
the sanctuary. Baptism has less significance than the 
anxious bench, family religion has little to do with spir- 
itual training, and the systematic instruction of the young, 
as a way of preparation for the Lord's table, is generally 
neglected. 

The Churchly idea of religious education is "based 
on the sense of covenant relation to God and baptismal 
grace." It assumes that the baptized children of the 
Church are sealed and devoted to the service of God "by 
the sanctifying or separating act of their baptism," that 
they belong to the congregation and people of Christ, 
that they have part in the covenant of grace, that they 
are of the household of faith. Then it will be possible 
for us to look upon our children as Christians from the 
beginning and to bring them up in the nurture and ad- 
monition of the Lord. "Baptismal grace is, therefore, 
no fiction; it is the real possibility of salvation, con- 
ferred by divine gift upon all whom Christ thus blesses 
and brings into full union with His Church; and for all 
the purposes of educational religion, nothing is more 
necessary than that both Christian parents themselves, 
and their baptized children, should be thoroughly imbued 
with the believing sense of this truth." 

With this conception of Christian nurture goes a 
specific theory of the character and function of the 
Church. The old catechetical system, both Lutheran and 
Reformed, was an integral part of a corresponding ec- 
clesiastical system. "To be brought up and educated in 
the Lord is to be first planted in the life of the Church ; 
and then to be so comprehended in this, and so nurtured 
by it from the beginning, in the trustful use of all its 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



141 



means of grace and salvation, that the soul shall have 
the sense of it formed into itself as part of its own 
consciousness, and grow up in it always as the natural 
home and habit of its thoughts; just as in the order of 
nature, the life of a family, or the constitutional spirit 
of a whole people, is found to pass onward from one 
generation to another in the same organic way" (Nevin). 

The Church is regarded as the Mother of all Chris- 
tians. The Christian is bound by the Creed to believe 
"the Church," for the word "in" is an interpolation. In 
the bosom of the Church, alone, we must find life, and 
separation from it brings one into peril of eternal death. 
It is this visible sacramental Church which Dr. Nevin 
emphasized, and which Calvin described in his Institutes 
(IV., 1 122) : "Since there is no other means of entering 
into life unless she nourish us at her breast, and unless 
we remain under her care and pilotship until stripped of 
our flesh, we become as angels. For our weakness does 
not allow us to leave school until, as scholars, we have 
done with life. Moreover, outside her bounds there is 
no hope of the forgiveness of sin nor any other salvation." 
Accepting this definition of the church Dr. Nevin goes 
on to say : — 

"Along with this went the idea of ministerial powers 
and forces in the Church, which were held to be superior 
to the order of mere nature; gifts and workings of the 
Spirit there, as they were to be found nowhere else; 
sacramental mysteries, which were not only signs of the 
heavenly and invisible, but certifying seals, also, of its ob- 
jective presence; outward covenant rights and privileges; 
baptismal grace, and the sanctification of children to the 
service of God in this way, as truly as if Christ had laid 
His hands upon them, and blessed them for such purpose. 
This, we say, was the reigning belief ; and because it was 
so, the age addressed itself vigorously everywhere, as we 
have seen, to the work of educational religion, aiming 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



to build in such style on the foundation which was sup- 
posed to be at hand in the established order of the Church. 
Hence the full and universal subordination of the school 
to the sanctuary. Hence the significance of the Cate- 
chism as an organ of Christian instruction. Hence the 
catechetical system, in all its ramifications of discipline, 
whether private or public, kept up continually, as the 
grand support of both altar and pulpit, from one end of 
the year to the other." 

Prof. Coe, the author of Education in Religion and 
Morals, is a representative interpreter of the ideals of 
modern religious education and at the same time a dis- 
criminating critic of the earlier theories. He considers 
the misunderstanding "of the facts that underlie the doc- 
trine of natural depravity" as a great hindrance to Chris- 
tian nurture. If the traditional view of the doctrine is 
true, then he agrees with Dr. Nevin "that there is 
nothing in the child that is worth bringing out, that de- 
velopment can do nothing for him, that he must wait 
for something to happen to him before he can so much 
as begin to be religious. The only conceivable training 
for a being in this condition would be external and 
chiefly negative. Fear might be employed to prevent out- 
breaks, and habits of external conformity to religious 
institutions might be formed. But the personality would 
remain undeveloped, uneducated. This would be carpen- 
try, an external shaping of materials, not education, 
which is the inner development of a self. There is no 
way to educate a dead soul. Life, development, educa- 
tion — this is the ascending series of conceptions. Before 
there is education there must be life, a life that contains 
within itself a law of development." 

Prof. Coe further shows how theologians tried to 
make room for true religious education by evading the 
logical consequences of the doctrine of total depravity. 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



143 



These were "practically overcome in some churches 
through the countervailing doctrine of baptismal regen- 
eration. This provides for spiritual life in all baptized 
infants and makes genuine Christian nurture possible." 
Of course Prof. Coe does not believe in the theory of 
baptismal regeneration, but he concedes that it was a 
happy expedient for circumventing a time-honored 
dogma and escaping a serious hindrance to Christian 
nurture. Here Dr. Nevin and he are as far apart as the 
East is from the West. 

In other churches, of the Baptistic or Puritanic sort, 
the difficulty which came from the doctrine of depravity 
"had to be met by a new adjustment of the notions of 
sin and grace." This solution was offered by Horace 
Bushnell in his book on Chritsian Nurture (1847). "He 
maintained," says Prof. Coe, "that a positive religious 
life does not need to wait for the crisis of conversion, 
but that, under the pervasive influence of the Christian 
family, 'the child should grow up a Christian, and never 
know himself as being otherwise.' To the objection 
that this theory ignores the child's depravity and the 
necessity for regeneration, Bushnell replied in substance 
that wherever sin can abound there grace can much more 
abound. That is, he overcame the difficulty, not by deny- 
ing depravity, but by exalting the grace of God. The 
unquestionably good qualities shown by little children 
he interpreted as signs of the divine in- working. With 
this in-working parents and teachers are to cooperate, 
so that the development of the divinely implanted germ 
may be continuous." 

A similar position was taken nearly twenty years 
later in a book by F. G. Hibbard on The Religion of 
Childhood; or, Children in their Relation to Native De- 
pravity, to the Atonement, to the Family, and to the 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



Church (1866). He approached the problem from 
Arminian rather than Puritan presuppositions. "He 
maintained that children — all children — are in a state 
of favor with God, who imparts to them a genuine spir- 
itual quickening or principle of life. This view he sup- 
ports at length from Scripture and from the current be- 
lief of his own communion that all children who die in 
infancy are saved. If dying infants are saved, it must 
be through divine grace; but why should such grace be 
given to those who die, but withheld from those who need 
it for living? This view requires a change in the ordi- 
nary notion of conversion, for now the real question be- 
comes — not, Will this child ever be converted to God? 
but — Will he ever be converted away from God? One 
cannot become a member of the kingdom of sin except 
through one's own evil choice to surrender one's heavenly 
citizenship." 

Bushnell and Hibbard differed from the Baptistic the- 
ory in accepting the doctrine that the children of Chris- 
tian parents, yea, "all children, " are in a state of grace 
when they are born, and God "imparts to them a genuine 
spiritual quickening or principle of life," which is the 
basis for Christian nurture. Education in home and 
school is not, therefore, merely a preparation of children 
to come to Christ, but a training of children in Christ. 

On the other hand these men agree with the old 
Churchly conception of education, held by Dr. Nevin, in 
assuming that it would be a useless and a fruitless task 
to attempt to educate children in whom there is no re- 
ligious principle or a positively religious nature. Yet 
they differ from Dr. Nevin in not binding the operations 
of grace to the sacraments and ordinances of the Church ; 
in other words, in rejecting baptismal regeneration and 
the whole ecclesiastical system which Dr. Nevin re- 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



145 



garded as fundamental to Christian nurture. Notwith- 
standing the difference in their theory of the communica- 
tion of the divine life, both Bushnell and Nevin became 
ardent advocates of religious education. The former, 
especially, may be considered a forerunner of religious 
education in its modern sense. 



10 



CHAPTER IX 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM AND RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION— THE NEW CONCEPTION OF 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

MODERN religious education, as interpreted by- 
some of its foremost exponents, George Albert 
Coe, Shailer Matthews, Henry Churchhill King, Charles 
Foster Kent, Washington Gladden, and many others of 
equal prominence, is not simply a restoration of a neg- 
lected system nor a modification of a preceding theory. 
It differs essentially from Catholic and Protestant 
schemes, because it proceeds from wholly different theo- 
logical, psychological, and pedagogical premises. To 
understand its aim, motives, and methods, we shall have 
to consider briefly these basal principles. 

I 

The; first presupposition, and perhaps the most far- 
reaching in its consequences, is a new conception of God 
— a God who is great enough and good enough to match 
our larger vision of the world, of man, and of Jesus 
Christ. Once God was a king, enthroned in the heavens, 
"locally and spatially distinct from the world;" now He 
is a Father, immanent in the world, working out His pur- 
poses of love through the clod and through the Christ. 
The laws of nature are volitions of God. The history 
of the race is a revelation of His power and His wisdom, 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



147 



of His justice and His mercy. The regular cosmic and 
social processes are as divine as the sporadic and extra- 
ordinary phenomena of nature and of history. Jesus 
Christ is the fulness of the Godhead bodily — the life and 
the light of men. He is perfect love, and He lived in 
ideal relation to the three great realities of human experi- 
ence, God, man, and matter. Through Him we find the 
way, the truth, and the life ; and in Him we are complete. 
The Christian life has in its very nature the potencies 
and the assurance of eternal life. The instinctive long- 
ing for immortality is transformed into a rational and 
ethical conviction in the followers of Jesus. He hath 
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 

The scope of His loving purpose and the reach of His 
infinite grace are boundless as the universe and wide as 
humanity. We cannot but believe that the will of God 
is in this "evolving world," working out great purposes 
that we can at least dimly discern, and in which, intelli- 
gently and triumphantly, we may share. If the laws of 
nature are the will of God, then He is sharing in our very 
life. For, in the words of another : "Even the agony of 
the world's struggle is the very life of God." 

President King says : — 

"We seem to ourselves to be just awakening out of 
sleep, and out of dull lassitude of will. Now we see 
what life means. We live in an infinite world, and in 
that world we have our part to play. We live in a unified 
world, and, just on that account, we may work effects 
wide as the universe of God. We live in an evolving 
world, the direction of whose progress is not wholly 
hidden from us ; and into the very plans of God, therefore, 
it is given us to enter. We live in a law-abiding world, 
in which God himself is immanent ; and He works in us, 
both to will and to work of His own good pleasure. Is 
it any wonder that the ambitions of men of the present 
day, when seen thus in the large, seem to dwarf all previ- 



148 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



ous aims of common men? We build again, and with 
eager hope, our heaven-scaling tower, but on foundations 
laid by God himself ; and the confused tongues give prom- 
ise of changing into a higher harmony in the unity of 
the will of God." 

This conception of God sets a new goal and inspires 
new enthusiasm for religious education. "Our indi- 
vidual faith to-day," says Prof. Kent, "represents the 
united efforts of countless millions to know the character 
and will of the Deity, and God's response to the effort. 
Their cumulative religious knowledge corresponds to the 
inherited wealth of observation, experience, and experi- 
mentation in the fields of art, science, and practical in- 
vention. The prophets of the race were the great 
spiritual inventors, w T ho with open minds and intense 
zeal sought first to know the divine truth and then to 
transmit it in intelligible form to their fellowmen. 
Faith in God, in his Love, in his revelation of Himself 
through the lives of men and in His guidance of the 
individual, is the rightful heritage of every human being. 
Hence the first duty of the enlightened is to transmit this 
inestimable heritage, in its simplest and most impressive 
form, to each new, unfolding life. Moreover, only as the 
truths won by the experiences of the race are reincar- 
nated in the life of an individual can religion be made 
an abiding, effective force." 

Both the character of God as holy love and the gospel 
of the kingdom proclaimed by Jesus require that the 
Christian ideal be realized in human society as well as 
in every individual soul. When we have a perfect life 
in a perfect society, then the prayer for the coming of 
the kingdom is answered. 

A second presupposition is the new conception of 
man, with special emphasis on his inherent dignity and 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



149 



worth. The perversity of man is not indeed minimized, 
nor is it unduly magnified. The doctrine of depravity is 
corrected by facts of human experience and by the teach- 
ing of Jesus. While the consciousness of sin becomes all 
the clearer in the light of His perfect life, He nevertheless 
recognized that men, who are "evil," "know how to give 
good gifts unto their children" (Matt. 6:11). Nor can 
an evolving civilization and culture throw off the sense 
of man's guilt and misery. Yet few would go so far as 
to say with the 16th century confessions that "men are 
incapable of any good and prone to all evil," or that God 
will punish our "inborn as well as our actual sins" in 
time and eternity. "The child has not character as yet," 
says Prof. Coe; "he is merely a candidate for character. 
jHe is neither good nor bad; he is merely becoming one 
or the other. Some of his impulses, if they grow un- 
checked and unregulated, will issue in bad character : 
others, if they grow symmetrically, will result in good 
character." The law of evolution enables us for the first 
time to understand, in part at least, the nature of man's 
impulses. His carnal and unhuman desires are traces 
of lower orders of life, out of which the race has evolved 
and out of which each individual child develops. The 
individual begins life on the animal plane, somewhat as 
the human race did, and he has to attain through devel- 
opment to the distinctively human traits. It is natural, 
however, for man to attain the human and to repress the 
animal. The law of development, no less than the law 
of sin, is written in his members. While the lower 
tendencies in man are natural, in the sense that they are 
born in every child and compete with the higher; yet in 
the pro founder sense of the word 'natural' the higher 
tendencies are the natural ones, in the sense that they 
represent what both the child and the race are becoming. 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



Not only may the higher impulses be unfolded and 
brought into control, but even the lower impulses are 
capable of transformation into instruments for the reali- 
zation of the higher nature. "Greed, anger, envy, all 
represent spontaneous energy that can be directed into 
either useful or harmful channels." The work of edu- 
cation, then, is to furnish instruments for the higher 
tendencies and direction for the lower. 

But, some one will say, does not this theory deny the 
necessity of divine grace in salvation and lead to a bald 
naturalism or humanism ? So it may seem at first sight. 
Yet the expounders of modern religious education 
directly teach the opposite view. Man receives from 
God a positive religious nature. This is something that 
neither parent nor teacher imparts, something that must 
be there before religious nurture can have any effect. 
Into the constitution of every man God has wrought His 
plan for human life, and all the nobler impulses of man's 
nature are manifestations of "prevenient grace," — "the 
divine empowering and inspiration that come before" 
our human acts and give them effect. "Thus at every 
step in religious education God himself — the present liv- 
ing God, the Word that enlighteneth every man coming 
into the world — is the supreme factor" (Coe). 

God himself has created the longing in man for Him. 
He has provided means for the satisfaction of his divine 
aspirations. Through nature, through the processes of 
history, through discipline of life, and through the living 
Christ, He is training men into Godlikeness. Religious 
education reaches its highest and final form in Christian 
education. For in Christ God gives Himself to men as 
their light, their bread, their life. In Christ God re- 
sponds to our hunger. Feeding upon Him we grow in 
likeness to God; that is, we develop, we are educated. 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 151 

"Christian education consists, then, in so presenting 
Christ to immature souls that they shall be by Him en- 
lightened, inspired, and fed, according to their generally 
increasing capacity, and thus made to grow continually 
within the courts of the Lord's house." As never before, 
men must unite in singing "saved by grace." 

A third presupposition is a new conception of religion. 
It is not something foreign to man's nature, or imposed 
upon him from without in the form of a dogma, a law, 
or a ritual. It is not a mere matter of ceremony nor "a 
beautiful thing for aesthetic admiration," nor a seeking 
of ecstatic experiences, nor a practice of self-mortifica- 
tion, nor an ideal longing for deliverance from misery 
and an entrance into heaven. It is a life which inheres 
in the human soul as a religious impulse as natural as 
his carnal and his intellectual impulses. One of the most 
valuable contributions of the history and the psychology 
of religion is the proof of the proposition that man has a 
religious nature. He is not to be made religious, nor is 
religion a product of priestcraft or statecraft. But, say 
what you will, he is "incurably religious." This fact 
makes religious education possible and reasonable. 

Another proposition, which has always been more or 
less distinctly discerned, but is now practically applied, is, 
that religion is a life, flowing out of a man's relation to 
God and expressing itself in faith, in worship, and in 
service. Like every other part of man's life, the religious 
nature must therefore be unfolded from within, and grad- 
ually developed by nurture, training, and discipline. 
Man is not to submit himself to an order that is super- 
human or unhuman, but to one that is a full and final 
expression of the essential elements of his being. 

It is from this point of view that President Faunce 
says : 



152 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



"Religion after all cannot be taught — it can simply be 
communicated. It comes not as a series of propositions, 
but as an atmosphere in which all propositions are seen 
in a new light. It is not something added to home or 
school, like a new piece of furniture thrust into a room 
already crowded. It comes rather as the entering sun- 
light, showing the meaning and use of all the furniture 
we have so long possessed." 

A fourth presupposition is a new conception of the 
kingdom of God — new in the sense that it is the view of 
the kingdom as Jesus proclaimed and lived it. He was 
in far closer agreement with the prophets of Israel than 
with the apocalyptists of Juda. The prophets cherished 
the hope of a reign of Jehovah on earth, not of a trans- 
cendent heaven or of a beatific choir of redeemed spirits. 
Jerusalem was to be the center of the kingdom; the 
nation, or a remnant of it, was to be its subjects. Alien 
nations were also to share its blessings, for Israel was 
to be a light to the Gentiles and a bearer of salvation to 
all the earth. 

In the time of Jesus, however, this prophetic con- 
ception of Jehovah's kingdom had become transformed 
from a terrestrial order to a celestial apocalyptic scheme. 
The Jews, in their bitter experiences at the hands of the 
great world-powers and in their contact with Persian 
dualism and demonism, changed their religious hopes. 
The once immanent God was now far removed into the 
distant heavens. The world itself was largely, if not 
wholly, under the control of powers of evil — a battlefield 
of armies of good and bad angels, who strove for the pos- 
session of mankind. The Jews despaired of a betterment 
of their national condition and the fulfilment of their 
prophetic hopes, save through a miraculous intervention 
of Jehovah. The cooperation of man with God and 
confidence in the value of human effort were gradually 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



153 



excluded. The kingdom was to come solely by the sup- 
ernatural intervention of God through a great cataclysm 
or a universal upheaval, which would bring to an end the 
old order and usher in the new. History, accordingly, 
was divided into two distinct ages: the present, concern- 
ing which they were utterly pessimistic — indeed it was 
destined to grow worse and worse until the very end — 
and the future or coming age, which was to be corre- 
spondingly perfect, and in which the faithful Jews were 
to have part in the most fantastic and material blessings, 
while the wicked underwent the worst sort of tortures. 
This was the message of the Apocalypses, and these were 
the dreams and hopes of the generation to which Jesus 
belonged. 

The social hope of the prophets had suffered a dis- 
tinct eclipse. The conception of the messianic kingdom 
had become "other-worldly" and superhuman. A 
gloomy pessimism and hopeless despair in reference to 
the social order of the present world prevailed. The em- 
phasis on the resurrection and on individual immortality, 
a distinct advance over the prophetic hope, unfortunately 
resulted in a loss of interest in the social aspects of the 
prophetic message. The whole conception of the king- 
dom became artificial and mechanical, without vital rela- 
tion to the life of the world. It resolves itself into a 
scheme or program of the ages whose value and interest 
are speculative and chronological rather than moral and 
religious. 

To an age like this Jesus came, preaching, "Repent 
ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand." The kingdom 
was an actual reality in his person and life. He ac- 
cepted the terminology of his time and the forms which 
the aspirations of his nation had taken. But he univer- 
salized, spiritualized, and socialized the current expecta- 



i 5 4 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



tions. He breathed into men the spirit of his own life, 
and begot a new faith, a new hope, and a new love in his 
disciples. Apocalyptic elements there may be in the 
teachings of Jesus, but these are subordinate to the re- 
ligious and moral principles of his message. One looks 
in vain in the gospels for the salient features of the 
apocalyptic hopes. His interest is in this world, though 
changed and purified. He aimed at the transformation 
of men's moral and spiritual nature, and so he escaped 
the "other-worldliness" of his times. His vision was not 
blurred and his initiative was not checked by the gloom 
and despondency which are born of pessimism. He had 
seen Satan fall as lightning from heaven and that the end 
of his dominion had come. Jesus came eating and drink- 
ing. He tasted the joy of life, saw beauty in nature, and 
felt deeply the love of men, and women, and children. 

He was not, indeed, a modern socialist, nor a "Tol- 
stoian anarchist" ; not even primarily a moral reformer. 
"Sociology and political economy were just as far out of 
his range of thought as organic chemistry or the geog- 
raphy of America." His great purpose was to teach 
men how to live a religious life. He came to bring men 
into fellowship with the Father — so far he was an in- 
dividualist; but fellowship with the Father is followed, 
as sure as day follows night, by fellowship with brethren. 
The life of God in men will always result in the life of 
love for men. How this individual and social life was 
to be realized — a definite program for its attainment — 
Jesus did not propose. He had too much faith in the 
vitality of truth and in the self-perpetuating power of 
life to be concerned about schemes of organization or 
plans of reconstruction. 

With all due allowance for the individualism in the 
message of Jesus, his conception of the kingdom neces- 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



155 



sarily took the form of a social hope. Prof. Rauschen- 
busch, in his Christianity and the Social Crisis (p. 65), 
says: "The kingdom of God is still a collective concep- 
tion, involving the whole social life of man. It is not a 
matter of saving human atoms, but of saving the social 
organism. It is not a matter of getting individuals to 
heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the 
harmony of heaven." 

In the history of Christianity there is found a variety 
of interpretations of the kingdom of God. In the primi- 
tive congregations the social aspect of Jesus' message 
was eclipsed by a recrudescence of apocalyptic ideas 
from later Judaism. The eschatological elements in the 
teachings of Jesus were exalted to such an extent that 
they overshadowed the moral and spiritual aspects of the 
kingdom. The Christians awaited the speedy coming of 
Christ, the end of the world, and the establishment of a 
celestial order on the ruins of the Roman Empire. 

In the second and third centuries the kingdom came 
to be identified with the Catholic Church. This institu- 
tion, with its divine officials, laws, sacraments, and ordi- 
nances, was assumed to be the "city of God" in the bosom 
of a fallen world. The world was to be brought under 
the control of the Church, rather than to be transformed 
by the spirit of Christ. The Church afforded men & 
refuge from an evil world, and training for the final de- 
liverance in eternity. The Reformers renounced the 
Catholic system and refused to acknowledge its claim of 
exclusive authority over all ecclesiastical and secular 
powers. Yet they, also, failed to emphasize the social 
side of the kingdom. They put the invisible Church in 
place of the visible. It was composed of the elect souls 
gathered out of the world, who, by the use of the Word 
and the sacraments, were taught to live honest and chari- 



156 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



table lives upon earth, and were prepared for the joys of 
heaven. The world itself, however, was not thought of 
as capable of transformation into the kingdom ; the king- 
dom was something supramundane and future. The 
social hope, so far as it continued to exist in the centuries 
of church history, was embodied in the doctrine of the 
millennium or the thousand years' reign of Christ on 
earth. But even this gradually receded into the distant 
future and was disconnected with present effort and 
struggle. 

Yet no one will deny, that, since the days of the 
Apostles, a powerful influence has been wielded on the 
social life of the world by the Christian Church. Woman 
has been lifted to an equality with man, the marriage 
bond has been made sacred, parental despotism has been 
changed into parental service, slavery has been abolished, 
hospitals and asylums have been reared, barbarous tribes 
have been civilized, civil liberty has been encouraged, 
while the whole of human life has been made more tol- 
erable and more enjoyable — all this through the spirit 
of the Servant and the Master of men. Yet, as Rau- 
schenbusch suggests : "It was the diffused spirit of Chris- 
tianity rather than the conscious purpose of organized 
Christianity which has been the chief moral force in 
social changes." 

For reasons which it is not within our scope to 
discuss, men to-day are emphasizing both the individual 
and the social side of the kingdom of God. (See Rau- 
schenbusch's Christianity and the Social Crisis, Chaps. 3 
and 4). Their primary interest is to realize on earth 
in the social order of the nations the reign of life and 
of love. It is a return to the hope cherished by the 
Hebrew prophets and by Jesus Christ. The social 
awakening of the present is due partly to the cry of 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



157 



distress that comes from the multitudes all over the 
world; partly, also, to a clearer understanding of the 
message of Jesus. Because the Church has the message 
and the power, and because its leaders hear the cry of 
humanity, organized Christianity can no longer pass by 
the wounded man by the wayside, but must take him in 
hand and heal his sores. Nor is it enough to heal the 
sick; but the Church must sound the tocsin of advance 
and lead the way in everything that concerns the intel- 
lectual, moral, and social welfare of the nations and the 
betterment of mankind. This is the spirit of the coming 
revival, the dawn of which is breaking upon the eastern 
hills. 

When the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ 
in America (December, 1912) adopts a social program 
like the following, then, indeed, one feels that one is not 
indulging in a rhetorical figure when one speaks of the 
dawn of a new era in Christianity, but is recording an 
historical fact. 

The Council resolved that the Churches, thirty-two 
in all, must stand: 

"1. For equal rights and complete justice for all men 
in all stations of life. 

"2. For the protection of the family, by the single 
standard of purity, uniform divorce laws, proper regula- 
tion of marriage, and proper housing. 

"3. For the fullest possible development for every 
child, especially by the provision of proper education and 
recreation. 

"4. For the abolition of child labor. 

"5. For such regulation of the conditions of toil for 
women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health 
of the community. 

"6. For the abatement and prevention of poverty. 

"7. For the protection of the individual and society 



158 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



from the social, economic, and moral waste of the liquor 
traffic. 

"8. For the conservation of health. 

"9. For the protection of the worker from dangerous 
machinery, occupational diseases and mortality. 

"10. For the right of all men to the opportunity for 
self -maintenance, for safeguarding this right against en- 
croachments of every kind, and for the protection of 
workers from the hardships of enforced unemployment. 

"11. For suitable provision for the old age of the 
workers, and for those incapacitated by injury. 

"12. For the right of employees and employers alike 
to organize, and for adequate means of conciliation and 
arbitration in industrial disputes. 

"13. For the release from employment one day in 
seven. 

"14. For the gradual and reasonable reduction of 
the hours of labor to the lowest practicable point, and 
for that degree of leisure for all which is a condition of 
the highest human life. 

"15. For a living wage as a minimum in every indus- 
try, and for the highest wage that each industry can 
afford. 

"16. For a new emphasis on the application of 
Christian principles to the acquisition and use of prop- 
erty, and for the most equitable division of the product 
of industry that can ultimately be devised." 

If this is the purpose and mission of the church of 
the future, then, it needs no further argument that both 
the contents and the methods of religious education must 
be readjusted so as to prepare men to take an intelligent 
and an active part in the work of the kingdom. New 
motives for action and new ideals for arousing and main- 
taining Christian enthusiasm must be presented to the 
child and the man. To this end a Social Service Cate- 
chism has been issued by the Commission on the Church 
and Social Service of the Federal Council of the Churches 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



159 



of Christ in America. We shall cite two of its questions 
and answers to indicate the trend in modern Christianity. 

"How is social service related to other forms of Chris- 
tian activity? 

"In the complete program of the kingdom there are 
four chief items : Evangelism — winning men unto Jesus 
Christ; missions — making the good news known to the 
nations; education — training lives for the kingdom and 
building them up in Christ-likeness; and social service — 
serving the whole life of man and building a Christian 
social order. 

"What is the ultimate purpose of social service? 

"It seeks to create such a social order in the world 
as shall realize the Christian ideal of human society, to 
give each soul a true inheritance in life, to develop a 
perfect life in a perfect society, and to make Jesus Christ 
a fact in the universal life of the world." 

The first task of the Church, as of old, is to develop 
personal faith by teaching and preaching the message of 
God which the prophets received and which Christ pro- 
claimed. It must foster, now as ever, the spirit of rev- 
erence and of worship. It must seek and save "the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel" and lead them back into 
the fold of Christ. But the Church not only is to save 
the lost ; it must also train and perfect the saved. They 
are to be inspired to do the "good works, which God 
afore prepared that we should walk in them" (Eph. 
2:10). "Thus the Church is to cooperate with God in 
developing by right environment and wise teaching the 
divine potentialities latent in each individual" (Kent). 



II 

The study of psychology has thrown light on the 
stages in the development of the human mind and has 



i6o 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



furnished valuable help to education in general and to 
religious education in particular. The attention of men 
has been turned from the matter of instruction to the 
person taught. It is not enough that the teacher knows 
his book; he must also know his pupil. The contents 
as well as the method of teaching must be determined by 
the stage of mental development of the members of a 
class. True, men have always distinguished the mind 
of the child from that of the adult. Paul offered milk 
to babes, and meat to full-grown men. The Reformers 
felt the need of preparing handbooks for children and 
simple folk. Smaller catechisms usually came in the 
wake of larger catechisms. Yet it is only in the light of 
modern psychological study, which enables us to under- 
stand the laws and the needs of the mind in its unfolding 
from infancy to manhood, that we have a safe guide in 
the selection of material and in the pursuit of methods 
for religious education. 

The Westminster Assembly in preparing the Shorter 
Catechism recognized the principle, "that the greatest 
care should be taken to frame the answer, not according 
to the model of the knowledge the child hath, but accord- 
ing to that the child ought to have" (Curtis, History of 
Creeds and Confessions of Faith, p. 279). Fine as this 
ideal was, it had more regard for the truth of God than 
for the nature of the child. Great harm may be done by 
imposing upon a child mind the thoughts and the experi- 
ences of an adult. Is not the Fifty-First Psalm beyond 
the comprehension of children? Do we not greatly err 
when we attempt to awaken in the buoyant, care- free, 
joyous boy a sense of depravity and sin which has been 
felt only by men who have drunk the cup of iniquity to 
the dregs? To illustrate this point Prof. Coe cites a 
passage from the diary of Cotton Mather. "I took my 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 161 

little daughter Katy (a tot of four years) into my Study 
and then I told my child I am to dye Shortly and shee 
must, when I am Dead, remember Everything I now said 
unto her. I sett before her the sinful Condition of her 
Nature, and I charged her to pray in Secret Places every 
day. That God for the sake of Jesus Christ would give 
her a new Heart. I gave her to understand that when I 
am taken from her she must look to meet with more 
humbling Afflictions than she does now she has a Tender 
Father to provide for her." The tendency of such in- 
struction is to make religion unreal, to work either morbid 
piety or reckless indifference. 

How long, in our devotion to the fetish of a uniform 
Sunday-school lesson system, will we continue to ignore 
the capacity of the child in the several stages of his 
growth, and at the same time the historical character of 
the literature of the Bible? Teachers, again and again, 
are compelled to wrestle with unteachable lessons, to 
wrest the sacred text from its context, and to tack on to 
it a message which it was never intended to convey. 
Better times are dawning; but the great reform in re- 
ligious education, which the study of childhood and the 
historical conception of the Bible require, is still a hope 
of prophecy rather than a fact of history. 



Ill 

The changes in educational methods from Luther to 

Pestalozzi have a direct bearing on religious education. 

The sharp distinction which was once made between 

secular education and religious education is no longer 

made. It is now conceded that secular education has 

religious significance, and that religious education in- 

11 



1 62 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



eludes, also, the secular life. The kinship between the 
underlying principles of our modern educational system 
and the Christian ideal of life has been graphically shown 
in comparative statements by Prof. Coe. He concludes 
by saying that "the modern education movement as a 
whole has consisted in the working out of certain peda- 
gogical aspects of Christian belief. " 

Seven characteristics of modern education, all of 
which are rooted in the spirit and message of Jesus, may 
be epitomized as follows : — 

1. Its scope is universal; education is for every 
individual. The principle grows out of Jesus' teaching 
of the worth of personality and out of God's care for 
every one. 

2. It recognizes the inner life as the essential life of 
man ; the school is not to hang something upon the child 
but to develop something within him. The Great 
Teacher reaffirms this thought again and again. Not 
what comes to a man from the outside, but what comes 
out of his inner being determines the quality of his life. 

3. It aims at a symmetrical development of all the 
faculties of an individual ; it seeks to make broad-minded, 
well-rounded men. Jesus came that men might have life 
and have it abundantly. The whole body, soul, and 
spirit are to be preserved blameless unto the coming of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 

4. It demands that the inner life be developed by out- 
ward expression. "No impression without expression," 
is its motto. Jesus said, "By their fruits ye shall know 
them." Only he that willeth to do his will, shall know 
of the teaching (John 7: 17). A man who hears His 
words without doing them is like a foolish man who 
builds his house on sand. 

5. It puts the concrete before the abstract, the thing 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 163 

before the symbol, facts before conclusions. It begins 
with the visible and tangible, and rises to the invisible and 
the intangible. God, also, makes Himself known through 
the things that are made. From the local and the tem- 
poral Jesus leads us into the universal and the eternal. 
Every parable of Jesus is an illustration of this prin- 
ciple. The daily experiences of men are a mirror of the 
eternal relations of life. 

6. It offers freedom through obedience. Pedagogy 
does not exclude authority but requires it. The will is to 
be brought into spontaneous expression of the truth. 
Christianity is, also, the spirit of liberty. It promises 
freedom from sin and from the ordinances and rudiments 
of the world. Yet its freedom is conditioned by truth. 
Only when the truth makes men free, are they free 
indeed. 

7. It trains men for social service. Education for 
truth's sake or for culture's sake is not enough; it must 
fit men for a place in the social order. Christianity like- 
wise finds its completion in a social system in which each 
individual loves every member as he loves himself. Both 
education and religion recognize the right relation of 
men to one another as a necessary part of true life. 

'"These are the essential characteristics of modern 
educational philosophy. Every one of them is not only 
reconciliable with religion, but actually included within 
the Christian view of life" (Coe). 

After this rapid outline of the presuppositions of 
modern religious education, let us revert to the state- 
ment made in the opening of this chapter. Modern 
religious education is not simply a restoration of a neg- 
lected system nor a modification of a preceding theory. 
It differs essentially from Catholic and Protestant 
schemes, because it proceeds from wholly different theo- 



1 64 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



logical, psychological, and pedagogical premises. We 
may summarize the differences as follows : A new con- 
ception of God, of man, of religion, of the kingdom of 
God ; a new knowledge of the nature of the child, and of 
the several stages of its growth; and new aims and 
methods in our whole educational system. All of these 
are only relatively new, and yet in all of them there is 
such a change of emphasis, such an enlargement of scope, 
and such a readjustment of relations, that the necessary 
consequences are a distinctly new order when compared 
with the old. 



IV 

What is the attitude of the churches of our time 
toward the catechisms of the 16th and 17th centuries? 
The facts, as reported by representative men of different 
denominations, warrant the inference that catechisms are 
theoretically upheld, but practically ignored. The two 
churches in American Protestantism which practice cate- 
chetics most systematically, as a special preparation for 
communicant church membership, are those of German 
extraction — the Reformed and the Lutheran. But even 
among the Reformed ministers there is a growing demand 
either for a revision of the Heidelberg Catechism or for 
a new handbook of religious instruction. 

The ultimate reason for the neglect of catechetical 
instruction and for the discontent with time-honored 
formulas is not to be found in a spirit of innovation, or 
of disloyalty to tradition, or of scepticism, or of religious 
indifference, but in a deep feeling that the catechisms 
of the past no longer satisfy the requirements of modern 
religious education. They are the products of an ecclesi- 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



165 



astical and theological system which has been graduall) 
superseded. Even where this system has not been con- 
sciously given up, its adherents have not been able to 
resist the spirit of the age and to maintain the vigorous 
catechetical training of their fathers. Some, indeed, are 
making a desperate effort to revive and to perpetuate the 
sacred traditions, but it is the desperation that usually 
attends a lost cause. 

Among the charges brought against the catechisms 
of the Reformation are the following: — 

1. They discuss questions of abstract doctrine in 
which the churches were at one time deeply interested, 
but which have lost their significance for our age. 

2. The material in the catechisms is not adapted to 
the child, neither to his intellectual capacity nor to his 
religious experience. It consist of Pauline theology 
rather than of the teaching of Jesus; the former is ab- 
stract and abstruse, the latter is concrete and simple. 
Prof. G. Stanley Hall says: "The most careful study of 
the child's mind shows that before eighteen or twenty 
years of age there is no interest in anything Pauline, and 
that other elements of the Bible than Paul's should take 
precedence up to that age." 

3. The catechisms grew out of the ancient, rather 
than the modern, methods of Bible study. Formerly the 
Bible was regarded as a compend of proof -texts, and 
Christianity as a system of doctrine. To teach the doc- 
trine of the catechism, buttressed by biblical texts quoted 
without any regard to their historical relations, was sup- 
posed to nurture and to develop the religious life of the 
catechumen. Now we look upon the Bible as a book of 
life, not of dogmas and laws, as a book which inspires 
men to trust God, to love one another, and to hope for 
eternity. 



1 66 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



4. Even the doctrinal systems of the catechisms of 
the different churches no longer satisfy the Christian 
consciousness of our time. The theology taught in the 
schools cannot be made to square with the theology of 
the catechisms. Hence a constant demand for revision 
or for restatement of old truths in new forms. 

A trenchant criticism on catechisms is offered by G. 
B. Wilcox in a book entitled, The Pastor and his Flock 
(1890), p. 115: "Whether they (catechisms) were more 
beneficial than harmful may be questioned. They drew 
the children away from the personal life and teachings 
of the Lord Jesus to the intellectual process of commit- 
ting to memory long dogmatic definitions. They gave 
more play to the head than to the heart. And in time, 
as might have been expected, the catechizing stiffened 
into a mechanical round of question and answer. The 
soul went out of it." 

In view of these criticisms it is a mistake, however, 
to assume that catechisms, catechization, the pastor's 
class, and doctrinal instruction are to have no place in 
modern religious education. The need of accurate 
formulas for defining and fixing religious ideas, and the 
intellectual guidance and spiritual influence of the min- 
ister at a certain stage of the young life will be recog- 
nized as indispensable, for theological as well as for peda- 
gogical reasons. The problem of the Church, therefore, 
is not to revive catechetics in its traditional form, nor to 
substitute a new system practically excluding catechetics 
altogether, but to prepare material adapted to the cate- 
chumen and to discover the best methods of teaching it. 
Prof. Coe says: "The general principle is that the ma- 
terial itself, the fact or the truth, should be taught rather 
than the formula. That is, the formula enters as a 
means of expressing something of which the pupil already 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



recognizes the truth or the reality. The technical form- 
ulas of Christian faith, accordingly, should be postponed 
until something of the depth of the Christian experience 
has revealed itself, — that is, until later adolescence. In 
early and middle adolescence, more simple and directly 
practical formulas should be used." 

What shall we say of the Heidelberg Catechism? Is 
it an exception among the other catechisms, and do its 
authors rise above their age and anticipate our times? 
We take delight in describing it as "the flower and fruit 
of the German and Swiss Reformation." In many re- 
spects it is the catechetical masterpiece of Protestantism. 
Yet the unprejudiced student must concede that it is 
subject to the limitations of its age. The charges that 
are brought, today, against catechisms in general, may be 
made with equal force against the Heidelberg. It is, 
after all, an exposition of Pauline theology instead of a 
presentation of the teachings of Jesus. With all its em- 
phasis on the personal and confessional elements, it 
nevertheless presents truth in abstract propositions, rather 
than in concrete forms. Designed, also, to be a stand- 
ard of faith, it necessarily goes into doctrinal details in 
which the youth has no interest and which he cannot 
understand. It presupposes in the catechumen, or seeks 
to arouse in him, a consciousness of sin that is not true to 
the experience of childhood nor warranted by the 
facts of history. It devotes by far the greater portion of 
space to sin and salvation, and does not offer sufficient in- 
struction in the way of life as taught and exemplified by 
Jesus Christ. Little, if anything, is said about missions 
or the extension of the kingdom of God on earth, and, in 
the nature of the case, the modern emphasis on social ser- 
vice is wanting altogether. However excellent a system 
of doctrine it contains, and however fine a type of piety it 



168 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



has nurtured, it cannot meet the theological, psychologi- 
cal, or pedagogical tests of modern religious education. 
This is a fact that many may deplore and some may 
rejoice in; but in either case, this fact clearly presents 
a problem which cannot be solved by evasion or by con- 
demnation, but that must be met with the same sincerity 
of purpose and loyalty to Jesus Christ that animated 
the authors and the original patron of the Heidelberg 
Catechism. 

What sort of catechism will meet the requirements 
of our age? A revision or an abstract of the Heidelberg 
will not suffice. One or the other has been tried, both 
in Europe and in America, but only with indifferent 
success. In the language of Prof. Bruce, "what is 
wanted is not a dogmatic catechism, or commentaries on 
it written in a rabbinical spirit, but a Christian cate- 
chism or primer, framed on a historical method: a little 
book intended to do for the young of our time what Luke 
did for his friend Theophilus ; telling them the story of 
Jesus of Nazareth in a way suited to their years, and 
fitted to captivate their imaginations and their hearts, 
including the chief of his golden sayings, some repre- 
sentative acts and experiences, and telling briefly the 
story of his death and resurrection. . . . For we are to 
have but one absorbing care and passion — to make the 
young know and love Jesus Christ." 

It is gratifying to know that my colleague, Prof. 
William C. Schaeffer, is at work on a Catechetical 
Manual, based upon the teaching of Jesus in the gos- 
pels. Its underlying scheme conforms to the method 
of Jesus and the principles of modern education. He 
groups the material under the following heads: I. 
Our Heavenly Father, II. The Children of God, III. 
The Kingdom of God, IV. Jesus Christ, the Founder of 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



169 



the Kingdom, V. Christians, or the Citizens of the King- 
dom, VI. The Christian Life, or the Life of the King- 
dom, VII. Christian Missions, or the Extension of the 
Kingdom, VIII. The Christian Hope, or the Consumma- 
tion of the Kingdom. However excellent this work may 
be, it is not to be expected that it will at once be faultless 
and final. Catechisms in the past have not been made in 
a day or even by single individuals. Yet we are con- 
vinced it is a step in the right direction; and we trust it 
may be the beginning of a movement in our church which 
will go far toward the solution of the vital questions of 
modern religious education. With the educational heri- 
tage of the Reformed Church in the United States, we 
have a right to expect from its ministers and teachers 
valuable contributions toward the advancement of relig- 
ious education in American Christianity. 

We conclude these Studies with a problem rather 
than with a panegyric. With profound reverence and 
gratitude for the work of the fathers we celebrate the 
350th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism. But 
the celebration would fail in its purpose, if it were to 
arouse in us only an appreciation of the past. It is to 
bring us, also, to a clearer understanding of the condi- 
tions of the present, and of the requirements of the 
future. The men of the 16th century were great because 
they had the courage to protest and to progress. They 
renounced an old order and faced the task of establishing 
a new order. They were pioneers who forsook beaten 
tracks and blazed paths for a new Church and a new 
State. 

Among these none was more aggressive than the 
Elector Frederick, a wise ruler and a devout Christian. 
He was born a Catholic and, at the cost of parental affec- 
tion and a comfortable living, he became a Lutheran. 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



But in time he was confronted by even a greater crisis. 
Guided by the word of God, assisted by the writings of 
distinguished theologians, and urged on by the voice of 
conscience, he advanced from L,utheranism to Calvinism. 
A heroic step, indeed. He incensed his foes, alienated 
his friends, divided his house, jeopardized his crown, and 
imperiled his life, that the truth might prevail. Under 
the patronage of such a prince the Heidelberg Catechism 
was published. 

Loyalty to the fathers of the Church of the Heidel- 
berg Catechism means far more than to repeat their 
formulas and to assent to their doctrines. It is to seek 
truth, to love righteousness, to obey the voice of the 
Spirit, and to devote one's life to the glory of God in 
the service of humanity. 



PART HI 



FOREWORD 



The Tercentenary Celebration of the 
Heidelberg Catechism (1863) was gen- 
erally observed in the Reformed 
Churches of Europe and America by the 
publication of books and tracts, by ser- 
mons, lectures, and addresses in churches, 
schools and public assemblies, and by 
scholarly articles in theological periodi- 
cals. Yet, up to this time, not a trace 
was found of the first edition of the 
Catechism. Not until the following year 
(1864) was a copy of the original dis- 
covered in Bremen. It was in the pos- 
session of Pastor Treviranus of that city. 

It appears to have been owned at one 
time by Hermann Wilcken, called Witte- 
kind, of Westphalia. He lectured on 
Greek literature in the University of 
Heidelberg in the reign of Frederick III. 
On account of his loyalty to Reformed 
doctrine he was compelled to leave Hei- 
delberg after the Elector's death. He 
found refuge in Neustadt for a time, and 
came later into North Germany. The 



FOREWORD 



title page of the copy at Bremen con- 
tains an inscription by his own hand: 
D. d. M. Hermannus W tick en. d?. 

On the occasion of the celebration of 
the 350th anniversary of the Catechism, 
it is fitting that the original edition 
should be reprinted for the first time in 
the United States, and that it should be 
part of a volume issued under the aus- 
pices of the Faculty of the Theological 
Seminary of the Reformed Church in 
the United States, the oldest theological 
institution of the only Church in America 
which accepts the Heidelberg Catechism 
as its symbol of faith and authorized book 
of instruction. For the use of the English 
reader the translation of the Tercente- 
nary Edition of 1863 is printed on the 
opposite page. I have taken the liberty 
to suggest such changes on the margin 
as the original text requires. Since, 
however, it is not my purpose to offer 
a new translation, I have permitted cer- 
tain words, phrases, and even sentences 



FOREWORD 



to stand without modification, though, 
it appears to me, such modifications 
ought to be made. 

The first reprint of the original edi- 
tion was prepared for publication by Al- 
brecht Wolters, an evangelical pastor of 
Bonn. It was issued in 1864. The copy 
now in possession of the Library of the 
Theological Seminary of the Reformed 
Church in the United States was donated, 
in 1901, by the Rev. Jacob Dahlman. 



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REPRINT OF THE FIRST EDITION 
OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



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CATECHISM 

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Christian Instruction 



AS THIS IS CARRIED ON IN CHURCHES 
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PRINTED IN THE ELECTORAL CITY 
OF HEIDELBERG BY 
JOHN MAYER 
1563 



ERRATA. 

got. 16. in margine fur £abac. tteg ©fate, 
got. .-28. tin. oolfomlicf) / Keg c . 93nb 
got. 31. tin. tuiges / liefj crrouibc. 
gol. 32. tin. 3ft e8 / liefc met): 

lin. teglid) / liefc ©otteS / 
got. 41. tin. etniget / lieft fjenlic^eit 
got. 56. tin. jr / tiefj jubeffcven: 

lin. folate / Heft lebenS / 

tin. roetcfye / liefc ftuct / 
got. 61. 2)ie jat l. fefc tober bieje roort / 3cf) &to 

ber £en_bein ©ott / etc. 
got. 63. tin. bu / liefj baS 2tteer 
got. 77. lin. tonfew / liefe . ftit 



15 6 3 



182 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



3 

rid) won ©ot; 
te$ ©enaben 
q3fat§grafc 
oeto. 9il)em / be$ fyetfigen 9i6mU 
fctyen $eid)3 ©rfctrucfyfeS onb 
(Sfyurfurft / £er$og in 23atyern/ 
jc. (Sntbteren alien onb jeben 
tjnfern Sutoerintenbente/ SPfan 
|erm/ Spjebigern/ $ird)en tmb 
<Sd)uIbienern onferS (Sfyurfur* 
ftent^umoS per 5)3fal§grafe? 
fd)ap oeb Oifyein / onfer genab 
onb gruf? / 23nb fiigen eud) tyie* 
mit pnuffen. 

9tad) bem nrir onS aujj erin? 
nerung ®ofrIid$ SBrofS / au# 
naturlid)er fcflid): en perwanb 
a ij nu9 




THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 

3 

We, Frederic, Archcarver and Elector 
of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke in 
Bavaria, by the grace of God, Elector 
Palatine on the Rhine, &c, present to 
all and each of our Superintendents, 
Pastors, Preachers, Officers of the 
Church, and Schoolmasters, throughout 
our Electorate of the Rhenish Palatinate, 
our grace and greeting, and do them, 
herewith, to wit: 

Inasmuch as we acknowledge that we 
are bound by the admonition of the Di- 
vine word, and also by natural duty and 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

4 2Sone&. 
nu{j fdjitfbtg etfenne. 9Sn& ente 
ttcfy furgenommen / QSnfer toon 
©ott tcfo^fen 3tmtot / kruff 
tono tegterung / nidjt dlein 
frteMi(f)e / rittgem toefen / and) 
juer^nltung $M)tigen auffrtd) 
tigcn 5onE> Sugcntfamcn loan? 
i>eI3 toni) Iekn3 tonfcret tonber; 
tfyanen/ jurtdjten toni) anjuftcfc 
Icn : ©onbern aud) tono fur? 
nemlid) oiefdtoige $u rec^tf^af 
fener erfantmtfj »no fo:d)t feeS 
Qtfmedjtigm / tonb fetneS fdig* 
mad)ent>cn 2So:t3 / aW t»a3 ei; 
nige funbament atler Sugenten 
ton ge1)o:famS j je tengcr je mefy: 
anjuwctfen ton jubungen. Sfudj 
olfo fic jur cwigcti tonb gritlidji? 
wolfart tongeftoartS toleifj toon 

grunb 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
4 

relation, and have finally determined to 
order and administer our office, calling, 
and government, not only for the promo- 
tion and maintenance of quiet and peace- 
able living, and for the support of up- 
right and virtuous walk and conversation 
among our subjects, but also and above 
all, constantly to admonish and lead them 
to devout knowledge and fear of the Al- 
mighty and His holy word of salvation, 
as the only foundation of all virtue and 
obedience, and to spare no pains, so far 
as in us lies, with all sincerity to pro- 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

Soneb. 5 

grunb tonferS l)er£en3 gem be? 
futfcern / tont> fotoil an tonS / bar? 
kto erl)aWen fyelffen wolten. 

93nt> ato.er gleid) anfangS in 
eintrettung tonferet regtevung 
crfaren : 2Bteroot toon tonfern 
ftetoen 93ettcrn tonb ^3o:farn/ 
^falfcgtafen / dtjurfutftm :c. 
toi)Ii(t)cr feliger get>ed)tnu|1 / ah 
lerljant) (£l):iftltc|e tonfc nit§fo 
d)e cjfcmmgen ton toojtoetcitun; 
gen / ju toefuvfeerung foldjet e^i 
©otte£ / ton crfwftung 2Surger? 
Itc^er pd)t tont> i>oXice^ auffge; 
rid)t tonb furgenommen: 

3>af? tu># fcemfeflngen nit 
mit fcera ernft / wie eS ftd) wot 
gejmret / attent^atpen nad)ge; 
fcfct / 93tel weniger fcie toerDoffte 
a iii ton& 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 

5 

mote their temporal and eternal welfare, 
and to contribute to the defence and 
maintenance of the same: 

And, although apprised on entering 
upon our government, how our dear 
cousins and predecessors, Counts Pala- 
tine, Electors, &c, of noble and blessed 
memory, have instituted and proposed 
divers Christian and profitable measures 
and appliances for the furtherance of the 
glory of God and the upholding of civil 
discipline and order : 

Notwithstanding this purpose was not 
in every respect prosecuted with the ap- 
propriate zeal, and the expected and de- 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



6 33onet>. 
»nb cegerte frudjt baraujj ge? 
folgt tonb gefpurt nwbe. 2Bek 
djeS im$ benn t>erurfad?t / nit 
aUein biefellnge wibcnrin juers 
neroern / fonbern aud) / ba eg 
t>ic notljimenbigfdt erfoit>ert/ 
in fcerfafferung pridjten / jucr; 
teutern / tmb roeitere furfcfyung 
^utfyun. Stlfo it>ir aud) in km 
nit bm geringficn mangel fcefun 
ben / ba§ bie Muenbe jugenb al? 
tent|at&cn / fceibeg in (Sdjuten 
tmb ^irdjen 23nfcrd (Hjurfurs 
jientijumpS in (Stjiijilidjer i l e* 
re fefyj fafclejfig/ tmb jum $etl 
gar nit / §um ieil after tmgleid)/ 
tmb ju feinem fcefienbigen / ge? 
wiffen tmb eintjelligen datedji* 
fmo : fonbern na$ eineS jeben 

fur* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
6 

sired fruit did not accrue therefrom — 
we are now induced not only to renew 
the same, but also, as the exigencies of 
the times demand, to improve, reform, 
and further to establish them. There- 
fore we also have ascertained that by no 
means the least defect of our system is 
found in the fact, that our blooming 
youth is disposed to be careless in re- 
spect to Christian doctrine, both in the 
schools and churches of our principality 
— some, indeed, being entirely without 
Christian instruction, others being un- 
systematically taught, without any estab- 
lished, certain, and clear catechism, but 
merely according to individual plan or 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

33one&. 7 

ffirnemm tonb gutfcnntfen an; 
gotten tonb tonkrnnefen wa 
feen. Saraup fcm netoen anbern 
toielfattigen groffm tonridjtig; 
feiten crfoXgt / i>ap ftc offtermn 
len oI;nc ©otteg furdjt t)nt) er; 
fantnup fetneg SBortS auffge; 
wad)fen / fcine etntred)ttge ton; 
betiveifung flc^at>t / ober fonft 
mit weitleupigen tonnotmffti; 
gen fragen / aud) bijwettm mit 
nnberroettiget Sere tcfc^weret 
nwben tft 

2Ben mm t>eii> (Stmftu'd)e ton 
weltli^e amtotcr / Regiment ton 
^au^oltungen / onberfl nit toe? 
fienbigudjen cr^attcn rocrbm/ 
aud) md)t tonb crbarfett ton attc 
anbere gnte tugente bety ben ton; 

a itij bertha; 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 

7 

judgment; from which, among other 
great defects, the consequence has en- 
sued, that they have, in too many in- 
stances, grown up without the fear of 
God and the knowledge of His word, 
having enjoyed no profitable instruction, 
or otherwise have been perplexed with 
irrelevant and needless questions, and at 
times have been burdened with unsound 
doctrines. 

And now, whereas both temporal and 
spiritual offices, government and family 
discipline, cannot otherwise be main- 
tained — and in order that discipline and 
obedience to authority and all other vir- 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



8 SSoneb. 

tvcfyanm junctnen ton& cuff* 
wa^ffen mugen / Senn tot tot 
jugentit gteidj anfangS / ton too* 
alien t>ingc &u rciner/ audj gteid) 
fflrmiger lefp i)e3 tyeiltge (Euan? 
Qdij tonb tedjtfdjaffenet etfant 
nufj ©otteS angdjialten / tonb 
fcarinnen ftetigS geutoet wirbt: 

@o tjatom wir fur ein f)6f)t 
noturfft geac^tet / audj pterin* 
nen / ate tern towtemftai ftutf 
ctn§ 23nfet$ Regiments / Qtyur? 
IU$$ einfetyenS pttyuri / t>te ton? 
tric^tigfcit tonfc tongletdjtjeit a& 
jufdjaffen / ton notroenbige toer 
toefferung anjuflellen. 

Unt> bemnadj mil xfyat ton 
jutyun 2$nferev ganfcen Styeo* 
fogtfctyen ftacultet allfyie / <tu<$ 

alien 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
8 

tures may increase and be multiplied 
among subjects — it is essential that our 
youth be trained in early life, and above 
all, in the pure and consistent doctrine of 
the holy Gospel, and be well exercised 
in the proper and true knowledge of 
God: 

Therefore, we have regarded it as a 
high obligation, and as the most impor- 
tant duty of our government, to give at- 
tention to this matter, to do away with 
this defect, and to introduce the needful 
improvements : 

And accordingly, with the advice and 
cooperation of our entire theological 
faculty in this place, and of all Super- 



13 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

SSoneb. 9 

alien ©upertntenbenten tmb 
furnemften ^trdjenbienern ci; 
nen ©ummariftyen tmfeemdjt 
OS (5atcd)ifmum tmfercr (S^ift 
Udjen Religion auj? t>em SBoit 
©otU§ 1 t>eit>e3 in 2>eutfd}er »n 
i l ateinifd)cr <&$iaty t>crfaffen 
imt> ftelle laffen. 2>amit furbap 
ntd)t Gllein tie jugenfct in $ir; 
d)en tmb <Sd)uten / in folder 
CS^:ifttid;er £ej:e / ©ottfelig; 
lidjen t>nt»ern?iefm / unt> t>ar$u 
etn^eUtglid^cn angefyalten : fon? 
fcer cmd) t>ie $jei>tger tm <3tfml 
meifter felfcS cm genuffe t)ut> fee 
ftent>igc fomt tmt> mop tyakn 
inogen / n>ie fic fid) in tmberroet 
fung t)cr jugenfct »erl)atten [oU 
len / tml> nic^t jreS gefalienS teg? 

a t) lictye 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 

9 

intendents and distinguished servants of 
the Church, we have secured the prepa- 
ration of a summary course of instruc- 
tion or catechism of our Christian Re- 
ligion, according to the word of God, 
in the German and Latin languages; in 
order not only that the youth in churches 
and schools may be piously instructed in 
such Christian doctrine, and be thor- 
oughly trained therein, but also that the 
Pastors and Schoolmasters themselves 
may be provided with a fixed form and 
model, by which to regulate the instruc- 
tion of youth, and not, at their option, 
adopt daily changes, or introduce erro- 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



10 23orjel>. 

Kdje enbevunge futnemm/ ober 
nriberroertige kfyc cinfuren. 

(Sud) Ijtemit die »nb cincm 
jcben fcefonber gnebtgttdje \mb 
ernftlid)en ermancnl) ton fcefefc 
Unit i \x voolkt angeregten (Sa* 
tedjifraum 08 93nberrtd)t / tomb 
t)cr efye ©otteg / bnb SSnferer 
tmbertl)anett / aud) eroerer fee* 
ten fett)^ nu| tmb bejiem wille/ 
bancfbarltdj annemc / aud) ben 
felbtgen nad) jrem re^ten Uer? 
ftanb l)cr jugenb in fcfyirtenbnb 
3ltrd)en / audj fonft auff ber 
(5an§et bent gemeinen SRan 
bleiffig tonb tool etnbilben / bar* 
nad) lefcen/ tljun tm leben. 93ns 
Qqmxfftlkx Doffhung tmb ju? 
uerftdjt / mm btc {ugenbt an? 

fangS 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
10 

neous doctrine : 

We do herewith affectionately admon- 
ish and enjoin upon every one of you, 
that you do, for the honour of God and 
our subjects, and also for the sake of 
your own soul's profit and welfare, 
thankfully accept this proffered Cate- 
chism or course of instruction, and that 
you do diligently and faithfully represent 
and explain the same according to its 
true import, to the youth in our schools 
and churches, and also from the pulpit 
to the common people, that you teach, 
and act, and live in accordance with it, 
in the assured hope, that if our youth in 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



aSonet>. n 

fangS im wit ©otteS dfo mit 
cvnft tmbevnriefen ttnt> cuffer? 

aud) fcefferung kg lebenS / fteifc 
Jid)e tout) erctcje wdfart »er? 
Ictfjen tm& nrifcerfflren lajfen. 
£a3 woHen rcir im£/ nrie ot>; 
laut/ &u gefdjefyen gu eucfy entfr 
d?m ttrfefyen. 

Saturn |)et)i>elberg auff ©mtfag ben 
neunfcefKnfcen £D?pnatSrag 3< , nu< , "i / 
Ula&i Gb:ijrt »nfer$ lieben Synn »ni> 
©eligmadjcrl gebwt / tm %ax I 
Saufenbt / ftiinfffyunbert / 
6:et) »nD fed$tg. 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 

11 

early life are earnestly instructed and 
educated in the word of God, it will 
please Almighty God also to grant refor- 
mation of public and private morals, and 
temporal and eternal welfare. Desiring, 
as above said, that all this may be ac- 
complished, we have made this provision. 

"Given at Heidelberg, Tuesday, the 
nineteenth of January, in the year 1563 
after the birth of Christ, our dear Lord 
and Saviour.'* 



200 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



12, 

DDer 

WWet Mcrrtdjt/ 

one i)er in itirdjen »nb @d)u* 

ten feet Gfjurfurjlltcfjm 
spfalfc getrieben 




219 # betn etntger troji in leben 
*mt> in fierben ? 

« 2.c*r.<?. s^ag ic^ tntt £eib t>nb ©eel*/ bet)be 

* * BMn - 1 ^in leben t>nb in jierben^/ nit mem/ 

• j^/' fonfcer meineg getreroen ^)et)Ian&6 3cfu 
€ j Tola 3 Gfcift eige bin <?/ fcer mit feine tf)erDern 

jjpmx blut/fur alle meine funben t>olfomlicf) 
Joan.6. bejcrfet / »n mid) au£ aUem geroatt J>e3 
Seufel^erltifi l)at<*/ t>n alfo beroarete / 
fca£ of)ne 6en roilfen memeS 3SatcrS im 
l)imel fein f)aar son meinem Ijaupt fan 

fallen/ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 201 



12 

CATECHISM 

OR 

Christian Instruction 

AS THIS IS CARRIED ON IN CHURCHES 
AND SCHOOLS OF THE ELECTORAL 
PALATINATE 



Question i. 

What is thy only comfort in life and 
in death? 

Answer. 

That I, with body and soul, both in 
life and in death, am not my own, but 
belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus 
Christ, who with His precious blood has 
fully satisfied for all my sins, and 1 re- 1 delivered 
deemed me from all the power of the 
Devil; and so preserves me, that with- 
out the will of my Father in heaven not 
a hair can fall from my head; yea, that 



1 



202 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

13 

fallen a; ja aueb mtr alfe§ 511 mctner fe** Uatuio. 
ligfeit btenen mug&/ barumb cr mid) ^22. 
aud) burd) feinen f)ei(igen©eifi beSewi* Bom 8 ' 
gen lebens t>erfid)ert c / tmb jm fo:tl)in c z cor.i. 
Suleben son Ijerfcen roiUia t>nb berett 

2Bieuil ftiicf feint) btr notig juroif* 
fen /Dag bu in biefem trofi feligttdt> lebe 
*>nb jlerben mogefi? 

©ret) ffucf e. grftlid) rcte grog mtU i.c*r.<?. 
ne funbe snb elenbfetjen/: 3uroanbern/ Tit.3. 
rDie id) t>on alien meinen funben t>nb/ Man*. 
elenb erlofet roerbe#. 93nb jum inttw Iohan - 15 - 
ir>ie id) @ott fur foldje erlofung foil* J ™*-* 7 ; 
bancfbar fan. a *** #/ * 

$er erfte $til 

93on fce3 menftyen elmk 

2Bol)er erfennetfu betn elenbt? 

Slug 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 203 



13 

all things must work together for my 
salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy 
Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, 
and makes me heartily willing and ready 
henceforth to live unto Him. 

Question 2. 

How many things are necessary for 
thee to know, that thou in this comfort 
may est live and die happily? 

Answer. 

Three things: First, 2 the greatness of 2 how great my 

. ' sin and mis- 

my sin and misery. Second, how I am ery are 
8 redeemed from all my sins and misery. 8 delivered 
Third, how I am to be thankful to God 

for SUCh 4 redemption. 4 deliverance 



THE FIRST PART 

OF MAN'S MISERY 



Question 3. 
Whence knowest thou thy misery ? 



a Rom.3. 



204 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

14 

Stntwojt 

Slug ban gefefc @otte«.a 

_ Stag. 

SEBag erfoj&crt benn ba§ ©Gftlid) ge 
fefc t)on mtS? 

2tntwo:t. 

§5ig Idpet t>n§ SfjiiftuS in ciner fum* 
ma/gj?at4am22. 2)U folt Hefcen 
©Ott bemen^enn / t>on ganfcem 
f)erfcen/ son ganger feelen / t>on ganfce 
gemutf) twb alien frefften / big iff ba$ 
furnembfie snb bag grofte gebot/ ©ag 
anber aber if! bem g(eicf) / $U folt beU 

ne Sftedtften Me aI3 bicfy feM 

3>n btefen jroet)en gebotten fyanget bag 
ganfce gefefc tmb bie *J}:opl)eten, 

£anfhi big atleS ^olfimlid) Ijalten ? 
► 3l!ttW0it. 
1 wi 9? ein * / &enn bin »on Utatuv ge* 
ckom.8. neigt ©ott tmb mcincn ned)jten gib 
^•p. fjaffen.c 

£at 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



14 

Answer. 
Out of the Law of God. 

Question 4. 

What does the Law of God require 
of us? 

Answer. 

This Christ teaches us in sum, Matth. 
22: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
strength. This is the first and great com- 
mandment; and the second is like unto 
it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self. On these two commandments hang 
5 all the law and the prophets. 5 the whole 

Question 5. 
Canst thou keep all this perfectly? 

Answer. 

No: for I am by nature prone to hate 
God and my neighbor. 



206 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

15 

£at benn@ottben menfcfjen affobfljj 
snb t>erfert erfdjaffen ? 

Slntwoit 

Ulcitia : fonber @orr fjat ben mcn* a (? 5n .i. 
fdjen gut / *>n& nad) fetnem ebenbilb er** 
fcbaffenfc/ ba3 ijl/ in roarbaffriget ge* 
recfytigfeit vn fjeiligfett / auff bj er @ott 
feinen fcfytfpflfer red)t erfenre/ t>n& t)on 
jjerfcen (tebte/t)nb in erotger feligfettmit 
im lebte/ jn ju loben v>nb3ii p:eifen.c <? 2.^.5. 

EphefA. 

SBober fompt benn folcfye wrberbte 
art be$ mcnfcfyen? 

2(u§ bem fall t>nb sngebotfam anfet 
etjlen(£(tern 2(bam§ t)nb ©uen im tya* 
xaitiid/ ba t>nfer3^atur o(fo Dergifftet^ a**-*- 
roo:ben/baj? roir aUe in fiinben empfan* i?<?m - 5 - 
gen »nb gebo:en roerben <?. * p/aW * 

Stag- 

©inb wir aber bermajTen t>erbetbt/bj 

roir 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



15 

Question 6. 

Did God create man thus wicked and 
perverse? 

Answer. 

No: but God created man good, and 
after His own image, that is, in 6 right- 8 true 
eousness and 7 true holiness; that he T omit " true " 
might rightly know God his Creator, 
heartily love Him, and live with Him in 
eternal blessedness, to praise and glorify 
Him. 

Question 7. 

Whence then comes this depraved na- 
ture of man? 

Answer. 

From the fall and disobedience of our 
first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise, 
whereby our nature became so corrupt, 
that we are all conceived and born in sin. 

Question 8. 
But are we so far depraved, that we 



208 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

16 

rcir gan& t>n gar t>ntud}ttg femb ju et* 
nigem gutcn/wib geneigt ju allem bo* 
fen? 

«. joan.3. ^a. a (SS fet) Den / Dag roir burd) ben 
/o5 i5 -@eif? @otte$ nnDer gebo:en roerben. 

Habac.53. 0?GQ* 

St^ut benn ©ott Dem menfcfyen nit 
tmreajt/ bag er in fetnem gefefe \>on im 
foibert baS er nidjt fan tljun? 

Sfatnwt 

alfo erfcfyaffen / bajkr e$ fonbte tljun / 
ber menfcb aber !jat tfd> *>nb allc feinc 
nad)fommen /aug anflifftung be§£eu 
felS/ burd) mutanlligen *>ngef)o:fam / 
bcrfefbtgen gaben beraubt. 

IBit ©ott foldjen tmgeljoifam tmb 
abfal! trngeffrafft (afien Ijtngeljen? 

e i?<m. 5. SSJZtt mcfjten : c fonbcr cr garnet fcfyreef 
M*b.9.tity I begbe x>ber angebowe t>nDrourcf* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
16 

are zvholly unapt to any good and prone 
to all evil? 

Answer. 

Yes; unless we are born again by the 
Spirit of God. 

Question 9. 

Does not God then wrong man, by re- 
quiring of him in His law that which he 
cannot 8 perform? 8do 

Answer. 

No: for God so made man, that he 
could 9 perform it ; but man, through the' do 
instigation of the Devil, by wilful dis- 
obedience deprived himself and all his 
posterity of 10 this power. "those gifts 

Question 10. 

Will God suffer such disobedience and 
apostasy to go unpunished? 

Answer. 

By no means; but He is terribly dis- 
pleased with our inborn as well as actual 



14 



210 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

17. 

Itd)c funfcen/ t>nt> roil fie auf} gerccfytem 
mtfyetl jeirlid) t>n£) ewig jlraffcn / \w 
ergefp:od)en bat: 9Serflud)t feqjcber* 
man/ber nid)tb(eibet in allem bem/bag 
gefd)2tbe ftefyt in bem bud) be$ gefefceS / 

Sfi benn ©ott nid)t and) barm* 

®ott iff root barmberfeig& / cr iff 6 ff**f* 
aberaud) gerecfytc/berfyalben (eine ge* c ** 0 --?- 
recfytigfeit erfosDcrt / bag bie funDe / rod /£ or 6 
d)e rotber bie allcr[)6ci)j?e maieftet @ot 
teg begangen ift/auty nut ber t)6d)fte / 
ba6 ijl/ ber erotgen jiraff an leibtmb feel 
gefirafft roerbe. 



$er onbcr Xtit 

SSon t>e£ $ienfd)ett 

©rWfung, 

b SDie* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 2 



17 

sins, and will punish them in just judg- 
ment in time and eternity, as He has de- 
clared: Cursed is every one that contin- 
ueth not in all things which are written 
in the book of the law, to do them. 



Question ii. 
Is then God not also merciful? 

Answer. 

God is indeed merciful, but He is 
likewise just; wherefore His justice 
requires that sin, which is committed 
against the most high majesty of God, 
be also punished with extreme, that is, 
with everlasting punishment both of body 
and soul. 



THE SECOND PART 

OF MAN'S 11 REDEMPTION 



12 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

18. 

£)teroert nnr benn nacb bem gerecfc 
ten DHfjetf ©otteg seitlidje t>nt> eroige 
firaff t)erDtenr fjaben : rote molten rotr 
biefer draff entgefjen / on!) rotbetumb 
ju genaben fommen ? 

(Sou roil bag feiner geredjtiglett ge* 
a n uggefd)et)e a/ bermcge mujfen roir ber* 
t 22 ' 3 fctbcn-ciitiDcDer buret) »n8'felbjl/ ober 
'burcf) cincn anbern Dotfomene beja* 
lung tfjun. 

Stag. 

£6nnen rotr aber Durd) t>n§ fetbft be* 
jailing tfjutt? 

& io5i5. 3)iit mcfjten / fonbern njtr macfjen 
<a 9. aud) bie fcfjulbt nod) teglid) grflfier. 6 

£an aber jrgenb eine blofie creatur fur 
t>n£ bejalen? 

<• £r^.2. £eine c / benn ertfltcb ml Oott an 

feiner 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



18 

QUKSTION 12. 

Since then, by the righteous judgment 
of God, zve deserve temporal and eternal 
punishment, what is required that we 
may escape this punishment and be again 
received into favor? 

Answer. 

God wills that His justice be satis- 
fied; therefore we must make full satis- 
faction to the same, either by ourselves 
or by another. 

Question 13. 

Can we ourselves make this satisfac- 
tion? 

Answer. 

By no means: on the contrary, we 
daily increase our guilt. 

Question 14. 
Can any mere creature make satisfac- 
tion for us? 

Answer. 

None: for first, God will not punish, 



214 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

19. 

feineranbernSreatur ffraflfen/ bag ber 
mcnfd) Berfd)utt>et hat 3 um anbern/fo 
fan aud) feine bloffe Sreatur ben (a§t 
beg eroigen jo:nS @otte£ rotber bie fun* 
be ertragen/snb anbcre baruon erltf* 
fen. a * p/aiiso. 

2BaS mufien nnr ben fur einenSKitt 
ler »nb Srlofer fucfyen ? 

Sinen fotcfyen / b ber tin roarer /t>nb 
gered)ter mcnfd) / snb bod) fitercfer ben* ^ at ' 7 
atle Greaturen / baS ifi / jugletd) rearer ' 
@ott fet). 

SBarumb mug er em nearer tmb ge* 
renter menfd) fet)n? 

Sarumb / bag bie gered)tigfeit @ot* 
leg erfo:bertc/ bag bie menfd)lid)e na*c *o».i. 
tur/bte gcfunbigct ^at/fur bicfunbebe^ £/ai*3. 
gale/ *>nb aber etncr/ ber felbff cm funber 
rcef}:/ ntd)t fonbfe fur anbcre bejalen. dd j.pcu 
b i\ 2Bar* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



19 

in any other creature, that of which man 
has made himself guilty ; and further, no 
mere creature can sustain the burden of 
God's eternal wrath against sin, and 
12 redeem others therefrom. "deliver 

Question 15. 
What manner of mediator and 13 r^. 18 deliverer 
deemer then must we seek? 

Answer. 

One who is a true and 14 sinless man, 14 ri s hteous 
and yet more powerful than all creatures, 
that is, one who is at the same time true 
God. 

Question 16. 

Why must he be a true and 15 sinless 1 * righteous 
man? 

Answer. 

Because the justice of God requires, 
that the same human nature which has 
sinned should make satisfaction for sin; 
but no man, being himself a sinner, could 
satisfy for others. 



216 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

20. 

Stag. 

SSarum mug er jugleid) nearer @ott 
fein ? 

ben laff be$ 302ns ©otteS / an feincr 
tnenfdjfyeit enragen/sn t>n$ bie gered) 
tigfeit / *>nb bag Icben erroerben/ tmb 
5 tmbergeben mocf)te,£ 

28er iff abet berfelbe mitrter / bcr gu* 
gleid)rcarer©ott/unb ein roarer gerecfc 
ter menfd) iff? 

c jif««ax 3Snfer ^)enScfu§ (SfcijhtS c/ bcr tmS 
gurt)olfomcnen erfofung fcnb gerecfytig 

2Bol)er roeiffu bag ? 

Slug bem fceiltgen (Suangelio/ n>efd)§ 

eOen.3. @(m ^^$6) j m ^ ara i> e i$e 

t}Qt offenbaret : foigen&g buret) bie i)ei* 

lige 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



20 

Question 17. 

Why must he be at the same time true 
God? 

Answer. 

That by the power of his Godhead he 
might bear, in his manhood, the burden 
of God's wrath, and so obtain for and 
restore to us righteousness and life. 

Question 18. 

But who now is that Mediator, who is 
at the same time true God and a true, 
16 sinless Man ? * "ghteous 

Answer. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely 
given unto us for complete 17 redemption" deliverance 
and righteousness. 

Question 19. 
Whence knowest thou this? 

Answer. 

From the Holy Gospel: which God 
Himself first revealed in Paradise ; after- 
wards proclaimed by the holy Patriarchs 



218 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

21. 

Itge (Srfcuetter * tmb sjkoptjeten lafifen* Gf ««- 22 - 
serfunbigen/mrb burd) bte opffer t>n& * omX 
anbereceremonien beg acfefceS furaebtU. ff r **: 
bet*, entity aber burd) fetnen emg* 
liebten ©on erfudct.c c 

3frag, <?«/«.«. 
2Berben benn allemenfdjen nriberum 
bind) Gt)>tf?um felig/ rcie fie burd) 2k 
bam fmb aertoen rco:ben? 

3?ein^/fonber allein biejenigen/bie* 
buret) roaren glauben jm rcerben einge* 
letbet/ tmb aUe feme reolttjaten anne* 

«MAM JiOTTl.ll. 

Stag* 

2Ba0 tji roarer glaube? 

S3 iff mcfyt allein em gerDtffe erFant** out 
nuge/ barburd) td) alleS fur roar fyal* 
te / waS *>n3 @ott in feinem roo:t (jat/ 
offenbaret/y fonbern aud) ein fjerfcli* ^ e /- 3 - 
d)e£ sertraroens/ roeldjeS ber |ciltge^ 
@eif? h iux&ji duangelium in mir nnr,- Ga ^i. 
cfet « / bag md)t allein anbern / fonbern 
b it'i aud) 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 219 



21 

and Prophets, and foreshadowed by the 
sacrifices and other ceremonies of the 
law; and finally fulfilled by His well-be- 
loved Son. 

Question 20. 

Are all men then saved by Christ, as 
they have perished by Adam? 

Answer. 

No; only such as by true faith are 
18 ingrafted into Him, and receive all His 18 incorporated 
benefits. 

Question 21. 
What is true faith? 

Answer. 

It is not only a certain knowledge, 
whereby I hold for truth all that God 
has revealed to us in His word ; but also 
a hearty trust, which the Holy Ghost 
works in me by the Gospel, that not only 



3 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

22. 

aud) mir t>ergebung bet ftmben / enrigc 
aerecbtigfeit tmb fettgfett wn@ott ge* 
fdjendFt fet)/ aug tauter gnaben/ alletn 
« j^/^.t)mb i>e3 wrbienjig efcijti roillen.* 

2Ba§ tff aber etnem @l)ujfen~notlj 
juglauben ? 

3lntiuoit 

SfUeSroaS &n§ imSuangefto tterfyetf* 
& fen roir&£/ roetcf)§ tmS Die 2(rttcfel an* 
ferS algemetnen t>ngejroetffe[ten Gfatfc 
Hd^en ©laubenS in einer fumma lefc 
rat* 

SEBie tauten biefelben? 
SlnttDOJt, 

3# Qtaufc in @ott / SSater 
ben atmedjttge y Scoffer tyim 
mel£ tmfc bcr erfcen, 

23nt> 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 221 



22 

to others, but to me also, forgiveness of 
sins, everlasting righteousness and sal- 
vation, are freely given by God, merely 
of grace, only for the sake of Christ's 
merits. 

Question 22. 

What is it then necessary for a Chris- 
tian to believe f 

Answer. 

All that is promised us in the Gospel, 
which the articles of our "catholic, U n- 19 unirersal 
doubted Christian faith teach us in sum. 

Question 23. 
What are these Articles? 

Answer. 

I believe in God the Father Almighty, 
Maker of heaven and earth. 



222 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



23. 

23nt> in Sefum (Sfyrifiuny 
feincn eingefcomen Son / ton* 
fern %txm / i>er empfangm ijt 
Don km ^etttgcn @eift / gefco* 
ren au0 Sparta i>er 3nngfraro; 
en/ getitten tmter 5)3ontio $t(a* 
to/ geereu^iget/ geftotfen tmo 
fregrafcen / (togeftiegen ju t>cr 
^etten / am Mttm tage rot* 
tier oufferftanoen Don t>en too* 
ten / anffgefaljren gen «$im* 
met / ft£et ju i>er redjten ©ok 
teg t»e^ almedjtigen 93ater£/ 
Don oannen er fommen miro/ 
$nrtd)ten oie tefcenoigen t>ni> 
ote tooten. 

3d) gtanoe in oen tyeitigen 
©eift / etne l)etfige otgemeU 
ne (Sljriftttdjc $ird)e / ote 
t> iitj ge? 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
23 

And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten 
Son, our Lord: who was conceived by 
the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin 
Mary ; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was 
crucified, dead, and buried ; He descended 
into 20 hades ; the third day He rose from 29 heii 
the dead; He ascended into heaven, and 
sitteth at the right hand of God the 
Father Almighty; from thence he shall 
come to judge the 21 quick and the dead.* living 



I believe in the Holy 22 Ghost: 23 then spirit 

23 a holy uni- 
versal Chris- 

xt 1 i «• ^1 f 1 • ti an Church 

Holy Catholic Church; the communion 



224 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



24. 

gemeinfdjafft t>er #ei%m / fcer 
getmng bet ffinben / aufferfte 
pung t>e§ ffcifd^eg /tmt) tin eat 

Srag. 

2Bte roer&ett btc 2(rttcM otgetet'ft? 
Slntwoit. 

3n t»re») t^eit. <Der erjf if! Bon @ott 
fcem33ater/ tmb enfet etfd)6pfFung. 
S5er anbereon @ott bem©oit/»nbtm* 
fer erldfimg. £)er bJttt eon ©ott bem Ijei 
ltgen@et'f}/ »nb »nfer £ttligung. 

e Deut.6* 

iff a: warumb nerineftu bret)/ benSSa* 
ter/ ©on t>nb ^etCtgen ©et'jf ? 

5 §)arumb bag fid) ©ott affo in fet* 

3fa«^. nem won geoffenbaret ftat fc/ttog biefe 
jt^a^ t)nbcrfd)teblt^c^crfO!ten/ ber ei* 
i.ioanz. m - roa^fltig erotg Oott feinb. 

93on 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 225 
24 

of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the 
resurrection of the 24 body, and 25 the life£fn S everiast- 
everlasting. in s life 

Question 24. 
Hozv are these Articles divided? 

Answer. 

Into three parts: The first is of God 
the Father, and our creation; the sec- 
ond, of God the Son, and our 26 redemp- 26 deliverance 
tion ; the third, of God the Holy 27 Ghost, 27 £ ? irit 
and our sanctification. 

Question 25. 

Since there is but one Divine Being, 
why speak est thou of three, Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost? 

Answer. 

Because God has so revealed Himself 
in His word, that these three distinct 
Persons are the one, true, eternal God. 



15 



226 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

25. 

$m mt km #ater, 

SGBag gtaubcffu / roenn bu fpitdjfl / 
3d) glaub in ©ottSSater/ ben aimed)* 
tigen / ©d)6pffer £imete t>nb ber (£r* 
ben? 

©a§ bet eroig SSat cr unferS £enn 3c* a m. 
fu Sljiifli / ber £imel t>nb grben fampt p/*m. 
aHem roaS biinnen tft/ aug ntd)tg er** p/«.«*. 
fdiaffen a / aud) biefelbtgen nod) burd) 
fetnen eroigen rfyat anb furfel)ung cr&ett f c& *• 
t>nb regteret* : Dtnb feineS ©oris Gtm* c 
fit rottfen mefn ©ott unb mein SSatet G ^ * 
fet) <? / auff roetcben id) atfo t>ertraroe / E P he/i. 
bag id) nit jroetfef/er roerbc mid) mit<* Pfai.54. 
aller noturfft (eibS ttnb-ber feelen t>er* Matte. 
foiaen <// aud) alle§ ubel/ fo er mtr in 
biefem jamertljaf jufd)icfet / mix ju gut* SomA 
roenben e : bieroctt crS tbun fan / al'§ etn-^ w ^ ft 
atmedjtiger ©ottf : tm& aud) tljun toil 9 MatL6 ' 
ate ein getreroer 23ater.# 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 227 



25 

OF GOD THE FATHER. 

Question 26. 

What dost thou believe when thou 
say est: I believe in God the Father 
Almighty, Maker of heaven and 
earth ? 

Answer. 

That the eternal Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who of nothing made 
heaven and earth, with all that in them 
is, who likewise upholds and governs 
the same by His eternal counsel and 
providence, is for the sake of Christ His 
Son my God and my Father; in whom I 
so trust, as to have no doubt that He 
will provide me with all things neces- 
sary for body and soul ; and further, that 
whatever evil He sends upon me in this 
vale of tears He will turn to my good; 
for He is able to do it, being Almighty 
God, and willing also, being a faithful 
Father. 



228 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

26. 

2Ba§ tterffeljefhi Durcf) bit furfefjung 
©otteS? 

Ste almedjttge t>nD gegenroerttge 

0 ftafft Sorted a / Durd) tuelcfye er f)imeC 
ttnb erDe/fampt alien Sreatureny gletd> 

1 mir.i. ttlS mtt fetner IjanD nod) erfyeltfc/ t)nD 

alfo regtert/fcag laub unbgrag / regen 
t>n& tmrrc/fruct)tbare t>nb t>nfrurf)tbare 



J> jar / eften t>nb tnncFcn c / gefunDljett 
p t>nb francf^eit^ / retc^r^umb t>n& ar* 



_ Prou.22. mn $ e / ttnb atle^ / md)t ofjnegefefyi / 
'fonqer t)on fetner i>aterltd)en Ijanb t>n6 

juEoitime. 

Stag. 

2Bag fur nu£ befommcn ttrir aug er* 
farftnug Oer fcfyopffung tmb furfdjung 
©otteS? 

/ i?o«i.5. . Sag rotr in aller ttntfroerttgfeit getml 




THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



26 

Question 27. 

What dost thou understand by the 
Providence of God? 

Answer. 

The almighty and everywhere present 
power of God, whereby, as it were by 
His hand, He still upholds heaven and 
earth, with all creatures; and so governs 
them, that herbs and grass, rain and 
drought, fruitful and barren years, meat 
and drink, health and sickness, riches 
and poverty, yea, all things, come not by 
chance, but by His fatherly hand. 

Question 28. 

What does it profit us to know that 
God has created, and by His providence 
still upholds all things? 

Answer. 

That we may be patient in adversity; 
thankful in prosperity; and for what is 
future, have good confidence in our 
faithful God and Father, that no crea- 



230 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

27 

len / ba§ t>n£ fetne Sveatur son feiner Kc« 

be fcbet&en ttnrba/ bieweif aEle Greatua .Row. 5. 

ren affoin feiner fyanb finb/ ba§ fie fid) 

one fetnen rotllen aud) m'd)t regen "nod)* j 0 b.t. 

bewegen fonnen,& 

$on ©ott km 8mt- 

2Barumb rctrb ber ©on ©otteg 3e* 
fu§/ bag ijf/ feligmadjer genanf? 

Slntnwi 

SDarumb bag er *mg feh'g mad)t uon 
tmfern funben <v t>nb bag bet) feinem an c m<*«. /. 
bern einige feligfeit jufuctyen nod) ju* 
ftnben ift.d a Act. 4. 

Stag, 

©lauben benn Die aud) an ben eintgen 
feligmacfyer^efum/ bie jre feligfeit Mb 
fyeil bet) fyeiligen / bet) Jnen felbji / ober 
anberftrco fucben? 

9?em e: fonbern fie serleugnen mit ber * f.cor*. 
tfyat ben einigen feligmadjer Dnb £>ei* 
lanbt 3efam / ob fie fid) fein gleid) 
rfjumen. Sen entroeber nid)t 

ein 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



27 

ture shall separate us from His love; 
since all creatures are so in His hand, 
that without His will they cannot so 
much as move. 

OF GOD THE SON. 
Question 29. 

Why is the Son of God called Jesus, 
that is, Saviour ? 

Answer. 

Because He saves us from our sins; 
and no salvation is to be either sought 
or found in any other. 

Question 30. 

Do such then believe in the only Sav- 
iour Jesus, who seek their salvation and 
welfare of saints, of themselves, or any- 
where else? 

Answer. 

No; although they may make their 
boast of Him, yet in act they deny the 
only 28 Saviour Jesus. For either Jesus* s °^^ h : ei 

und Heiland 
Jesum" 



2 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

28 

rfn ttoIFommener |)etfanb feat" mug : e* 
ber bte biefen .fjetlanb mix roarem gfau* 
ben annemen / muffen ailed in jm 1)a* 
a Bjai.9. ben /Dag ju jrer feltgfeit sonnoten ift.a 

Stag. 

2GBarumb iff er Gtr.i jiu§ / ba§ ijl / etn 
gefalbter genant? 

S5a§ ettton @ort bem33ater ueroib* 
& iY e sr./. net / ttnfc mtt bem beiltgen @ei jl & gefak 
bet ijl / ju ttnferm oberfkn ^2op[)eten 
DnD Sefoer / ber t>n8 Den beimltdjen rtjat 
unb roillen ©otted t)on tmfer erltffung 
c p/aiiio.witomiid) offenbaretc / $nb p snfe* 
Heb. 7. rem eintgen bcben sjhieffer /ber tm$ mtt 
iws. bem eintgen Dpffer fetnet? SeibS ertofet 
bat / snb jmerbarmit feiner furbitt fur 
d p/ai2. Dem SRatrer Dcrtrit d. 33nb ju tmferem 
Luc. 1. eroigen^onig/ ber tm§ mtt feinem rooit 
e Bom. s. unb @eij? regiert e/ *>nb bet) ber erroo3* 
jfa«.25. benen eriofung fcbufeet t>nb erfjelt. 

2Barumb rotrft aber bu ein (Sfcifl 
genent? 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 233 



28 

is not a complete Saviour, or they who 
by true faith receive this Saviour, must 
have in Him all that is necessary to their 
salvation. 

Question 31. 

Why is He called Christ, that is, 
29 Anointed? "Lit. an 

anointed one 

Answer. 

Because He is ordained of God the 
Father, and anointed with the Holy 
30 Ghost, to be our chief Prophet and 30 Spirit 
Teacher, who fully reveals to us the 
secret counsel and will of God concern- 
ing our 31 redemption ; and our only High 81 deliverance 
Priest, who by the one sacrifice of His 
body has 32 redeemed us, and ever liveth 83 delivered 
to make intercession for us with the 
Father; and our eternal King, who gov- 
erns us by His word and Spirit, and de- 
fends and preserves us in the 33 redemp-* 8 deliverance 
tion obtained for us. 

Question 32. 
But why are thou called a Christian ? 



1 



234 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



29 

Qlntwoit • 

©ag id) buret) ben glaubcn ein glieb * loa *- s < 
dfoiftia/ t>nb a(fo femer falbung tljeiU* f stm2m 
hafftig bin A / auff Dag auct) id) fetnen ^ rc fi 
dlamen befenne c/ inid)jm 3U eineni ie* 0 Rom . 12 . 
benDigen bantfopffer barfielle^/ Dnb A po ch. 
mitfregem gercijTen in Dtefem leben xuUd nom.6. 
ber bie funbe x>nb Steufel fireire/ t>nb fyer 
nad) in ercigfeit mit jm t>ber alle Srea* 
furen fjcrfdje. 

Stag- 

SEarumb beiff er ©orteg eingeboi* 
ner ©on / jo bod) rotr aud) tinber @ot 
teg finb? 

Sarumbt>a6 i£():tjluS allein ber ercig * /^a. j. 
naturlid) (Son ©otteS iff e/ rcir aber *m- 
v>mb fetnet nn'llen aug gnabc ju finbern/ 
@otte$ angenommen ftnb./ 1. 

SBarumb nenneftu jn »nfew £enn ? 

Safer t>n6 mit leib t>nb feel x>on ber 

funben 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



29 

Answer. 

Because by faith I am a member of 
Christ, and thus a partaker of His 
anointing; in order that I also may con- 
fess His name; may present myself a 
living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him; 
and may with free conscience fight 
against sin and the Devil in this life, and 
hereafter, in eternity, reign with Him 
over all creatures. 

Question 33. 
Why is He called God's only begot- 
ten Son, since we also are the children 
of God? 

Answer. 

Because Christ alone is the eternal 
natural Son of God ; but we are children 
of God by adoption through grace for 
His sake. 

Question 34. 
Why callest thou Him our Lord? 

Answer. 

Because, not with silver or gold, but 



236 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



30, 

funben *>nb aug allem geroalt beS £eu* 
fclS / nid)t mit golt ober (liber / fom 
a i.Pea. t) ern m (t feinem tfyertfern 33fut / jf)m 
i.cor.0. j Um e igentf)umb elofet t>nb crfaufft 

2Ba6 f>eift / baSer empfangen iff oon 
bem t)eiligen @eifi / gebo:n aug jftaria 
ber 3"ngfrart)en? 

1 ioan.i. £) a g ber ercige ©on ©otteg / ber roa* 
5om.i. rer t)n j ) eit) ig er @ 0 tt ifl & / t)nb bleibetc/ 

c lt)are menfcfylicbe natur / au§ bem fleifd) 

e MattT *> nb blut ber Swngframen SJiaria d / 
xmcj/ buret) rcurcfung beg f)eilfgen ©eiflS an 
jspAe/.j. fief) genommen bate / auff bag er and) 

/ -pjai. 132. bti it)are famen SauibS fet)// feinen b:ii 
bern in allem gleid)#/ au§genommen 

g Thin, bie funbe. £ 

k Hebr.4. ftxClQ. 

2Bag nufc befomeftu au£ ber fyeilige 
empfengnug Gfoifli? 

5tntwo:t, 

Sag er mit feiner tmfcfyulbt t>nb 

solfom* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 237 



30 

with His precious blood, He has 34 re-** delivered 
deemed and purchased us, body and soul, 
from sin and from all the power of the 
Devil, to be His own. 

Question 35. 

What is the meaning of: Conceived 
by the Hoey 35 Ghost, born of the* 5 ^ 1 "* 
Virgin Mary? 

Answer. 

That the eternal Son of God, who is 
and continues true and eternal God, took 
upon Him the 3G very nature of man, off Lit - " true 

human nature 

the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, 
by the operation of the Holy 37 Ghost ; 87 spirit 
so that He also might be the true seed 
of David; like unto His brethren in all 
things, sin excepted. 

Question 36. 

What benefit dost thou receive from 
the holy conception and 38 birth of Christ?"^ 

Answer. 

That 39 He is our Mediator, and with!?jp e ri g °™ ts 

Mediator, and" 



238 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

31. 

ttolfommenen betftgfett metne fiinbe / 

bartn i& bin empfangen*/ fur ©otteSa p/ai.32. 

angeficfjt bebecfer. x.corx 

2Ba6 wrjiefyefiu burcf) ba$ tt>6ufein 
gelttten? 

Slntwoit 

S)a§ er an feib DnD feef/ bie ganfce gett 
feineS (ebenS auff erben/fonberltct)aber 
am enbe beffelben ben gow ©otteS rot* 
ber bte fiinbe bc$ ganijen menfcf)Itd)en 6 p 
gefcf)lect)t$ getragen bat b / auff Dag er 7 * 55 
mtt fetnem letDcn/ alS mtt bem etmgen c lj oan2 
©unopfferc/ t>nfer letb t>nb feel t>on 1/oan V 
6er erotgen t>erbamnu§ ertefete / t>nO BomX ' 
t>n£ ©otteS gnabe/gered)ttgfeit x>n& e* 
roigeS leben ett>£rrbe. 

SBarumb fiat er tmber bem 9ftcbter 
^ontto ^3tlaro gelttten? 

Stuff, bag er snfcbulbtg t>nber bem 
roeltlicben SFifct>rer t>erbammet rour* d L uc.n. 
be ^ / t>nb x*n$ bamtt t>on bem jlrengen i oa n.i9. 

tmljeif 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



31 

His innocence and perfect holiness 
covers, in the sight of God, my sin 
wherein I was conceived. 

Question 37. 

What dost thou understand by the 
word: Suffered? 

Answer. 

That all the time He lived on earth, 
but especially at the end of His life, He 
bore, in body and soul, the wrath of 
God against the sin of the whole human 
race; in order that by His passion, as 
the only atoning sacrifice, He might 
40 redeem our body and soul from ever- 
lasting damnation, and obtain for us the 
grace of God, righteousness and eternal 
life. 

Question 38. 
Why did He suffer under Pontius 
Pilate, as judge? 

Answer. 

That He, being innocent, might be 
condemned by the temporal judge, and 
thereby deliver us from the severe judg- 



240 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

32. 

tttffcetf @orte§/baf? t>l>cr t>n^ gef>cn fot* 
aP/ai.69. te / crte&tgtc. a 

oaiaus. 3ft e8 etroaS mefc / Dag cr tjf gecreu* 
fciget roo:ben / benn fo er etneS anbern 
tobe§ gejio:ben were? 

Stntwrot. 

Sa/55enn fcarDurd) bin id) gerotg/ 
bag er bic t>ermalebeiung i>te auf mir 
lageyauff ficb gelaben J)abe&, Sieroeti 
ber tobt beS SreufcS t>on @ott t>erflud)t 
• roar.c 

Bra* 

SBarumb l)at ^ujfaid ben tobt muf 
fen (eiben? 

Sarumb/ bag son roegen ber gerecf)* 
ttgfett t>n& roarljeit d @otte§ mcl)t am 
berft fur snfere funben m6cf)te be$afet 
rcerben / benn buret) ben tobt be$ ©onS 

Brag, 

SSarumb ifi er begraben nwben? 

©amtt 



d Gen. 2. 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 241 



32 

ment of God to 41 which we were exposed" Li *\ " which 

r should come 

upon us" 

Question 39. 

Is there anything more in His having 
been crucified, than if He had died 
some other death f 



Answer. 

Yes: for thereby I am assured that 
He took on Himself the curse which lay 
upon me ; because the death of the cross 
was accursed of God. 

Question 40. 

Why was it necessary for Christ to 
suffer death ? 

Answer. 

Because, by reason of the justice and 
truth of God, satisfaction for our sins 
could be made no otherwise than by the 
death of the Son of God. 

Question 41. 
Why was He buried? 



16 



242 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

33. 

2Int»oii 

JDanrit jubejeugen / Da$ er roarfyaff* 
% geftaben feu.a 

Stag* /o&an.». 

2Bet( benn G^iffuS fur »n$ geffo^ 
ben tfi / rote fomptS bag wit aud) fler* 
ben mufien? 

aSnfer tobt tfi met)t em bejatung fur 
unfer funbe : fonber nur etn abfierbung 
ber funbeit/ t>nt> etngang jum eroigen* 
leben.* p *"- 

2Ba§ befommen rotr me!)* fur nufc 
au§ bem opffer &nb tobt am 
Greufe? 

Slntwtwt 

©ag burd) feine frafft t>nfer alter 
menfcbmit jm gecreufctget/gettfbtet dH 
begraben rotrbc/ auff bag bte b6fen lii* c 
jfe beg fletfcfjeg mct)t mtiji in *)n$*regte* coioj.% 
ren d / fonber bag roir mi felbff jm jur n 0 m. e. 
bancffagung auffopjfern. e e nom. 12, 

c 2Bar* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 243 



33 

Answer. 

To show thereby that He was really 
dead. 

Question 42. 

Since then Christ died for us, why 
must we also die? 

Answer. 

Our death is not a satisfaction for 
our sin, but only a dying to sins and en- 
tering into eternal life. 

Question 43. 

What further benefit do we receive 
from the sacrifice and death of Christ 
on the cross? 



Answer. 

That by His power our old man is 
with Him crucified, slain and buried; 
that so the evil lusts of the flesh may no 
more reign in us, but that we may offer 
ourselves unto Him a sacrifice of 
thanksgiving. 



244 TH ^ HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

34. 

SGBarumb fcfger abgefaren ju &er 
f)cUen? 

£)ag id) in meinen t)6d)ften anfed)* 
tungen serjlcbert fen / ntctn £en Gfw* 
jiu6 ()abe mid) burd) feine Dnaugfpred) 
licfye angft / fcfymerfcen tmb fcfyecfen / 
bie er aiicb an feiner fee(c / am Sreufc tm 
juuo: erlttten / t>on ber fyelltfctyen angji 

a JEfai.53. tmb petH erl6fet,a 
Mat.27. ^ 

2Ba§ nufeet t>n£ Die aufferftetjung 
g^tftt ? 

©rfiticft (jat er burd) feine aufferfte* 
f)img Den tpbt ttbentwnbcn / Dag er t>n£ 
Dergercduigfctt/bie er t>ng burd) feinen 
tofct em>o:ben fiat / Wnbte tbeilb&ffrtg 
5 mac ^ en 6 • 3 um an&ern bag aud) it>tr 
i Tet x. fcfcun&er burd) feine frafft erroetf er roer 
e Moms, ben / ju cinem neroen leben c . 3um b:ir* 
coioff.s. ten t(t t>n8 bie aufferftefjung tel)!tift ein 

getmf* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



34 

Question 44. 
Why is it added: He descended into 

42 HADES? 42helle 



Answer. 

That in my greatest temptations I may- 
be assured that Christ, my Lord, by His 
inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors 
which He suffered in His soul on the 
cross and before, has 43 redeemed me 48 delivered 
from the anguish and torment of hell. 

Question 45. 

What benefit do ive receive from the 
resurrection of Christ ? 



Answer. 

First, by His resurrection He has over- 
come death, that He might make us par- 
takers of the righteousness which by His 
death He has obtained for us. Sec- 
ondly, we also are now by His power 
"raised up to a new life. Thirdly, the 44 Li e ned Wak " 
resurrection of Christ is to us a sure 



246 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



35- 

SeroiffeS pfanbt tmferer feligen auffer* 
el)ung, a a i.cotm. 

Stag. W2 - 

2Bie t>erjiel)ejiu bag cr if} gen l)im* 
met gefaren? 

Slntwwt 

S5a§ SfoiftuS fur ben augen feiner 
junger/ iff t>on i>er erbe auffgcfjabe gen 6 Act - *• 
ptmmcl 6 / t>nb *>n6 ju gut bafelbjl iff c / 
big bag enmberfompt ju ricfyten bie Ic* f ar ^f* 
benbigcn tmb Die toDren.^ e ™ h4 

Stag, r, * «. 

3ft benn SfaijhiS nit bet) t>n§ bi§ anS i2om -*- 
enbe ber roelt / uric er t>n$ serheifien . ■ 

GfciffuS iff nearer menfd) t>nb nearer 
@ott: 9?ad) feiner mcnfd)lid)en natur / 
iff er jefcunber nit auff erben/: aber/ jfa«.j?$ 
nad) feiner @ottt)eit / 9JJaieftet / gnab y Joan J4 
tmb ©eift weictjt er nimmer pon \>n$. g <* w 

$ ra «- EX 

28erben aber mit Der roeiS bte jroo p tJ 
c ij nam* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



35 

pledge of our blessed resurrection. 

Question 46. 

Hozv dost thou understand the words: 
He ascended into Heaven ? 

Answer. 

That Christ, in sight of His disciples, 
was taken up from the earth into heaven ; 
and in our behalf there continues, until 
He shall come again to judge the living 
and the dead. 

Question 47. 
Is not then Christ with its even unto 
the end of the world, as He has prom- 
ised? 

Answer. 

Christ is true Man and true God; ac- 
cording to His human nature, He is now 
not upon earth; but according to His 
Godhead, majesty, grace and Spirit, He 
is at no time absent from us. 

Question 48. 
But are not, in this way, the two na- 



248 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

36, 

naruren in Qfyifto nit son einanber 
trennef/fobtc menfdmt nidjt sberaltft/ 
Da Die ©otrfjeit ift ? ' 

SSWtt nicf)ten : ©enn ruet'C bie ©otff>eit 
Dnbcgrcifltd) t>nb allenttyalben gegen* 

a 4cf.7. it>erttg iff a : fo mug folgen / Dag fie xvol 
auiJerdalb jrer angenommetien menfd) 
bet't / t>nD Dennoct) nid)t§ Defiott>entger 
aud) in Derfelben ill/ snD perfonlict) mit 

t coiof.2. j r ^ ereini get bleibt. & 

SBaS nu£et x>n6 Die £immelfart 

(SrfHirf) bag er im fyimmel fur Dem 
c l.Ioan.2. angejldjt fetneS 3Pater6 snfer furfp:e* 

i?o^.5. d)er if? c . 3uni anDern / Dag rcir snfer 
d /oan.24. fletfd) im btmel ;u einem fldjern pfanbt 

* 20 - fjaben/ Dag er alS ba$ tjaupr / ongfeine 
B ^^f- gticDer aud) ju fid) roerbe fjinaufr ne* 

* /rts men*/. 3 um & 2ltten / er f einen 
2.cor.i. ©aft jum gegenpfanD fyerab fenDeu/ 
Durc^ ivelc^eu frafft roir fucfyen / roa3 

&oben 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 249 



36 

tures in Christ separated from one 
another, if the Manhood be not zvherever 
the Godhead is? 

Answer. 

By no means ; for since the Godhead 
is incomprehensible and everywhere 
present, it must follow that it is indeed 
beyond the bounds of the Manhood which 
it has assumed, but is yet none the less 
in the same also, and remains personally 
united to it. 

Question 49. 

What benefit do we receive from 
Chris fs ascension into heaven? 

Answer. 

First, that He is our Advocate in the 
presence of His Father in heaven. Sec- 
ondly, that we have our flesh in heaven, 
as a sure pledge, that He, as the Head, 
will also take us, His members, up to 
Himself. Thirdly, that He sends us His 
Spirit, as an earnest, by whose power we 



250 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



37 

Dwben iff / Da SfmffuS iff / fifeenbt jit 
Der recbren @otteS/t>nD nid)t DaS auff 
erDen iff, a * two/.*. 

Stag. 

2Sarumb mtrb fjinju gefefct / Da£ er 
fifce jurredjten ©orteS? 

Stntnjoit 

£)ag Sf):iffu$ Datum b gen fmnel ge* 
faren iff / Dag er fid) Dafelbft erjetge / al$ 6 - Aey , 
Dad fjaupt feiner (£fmftlid)en ftrcben b / Co/oj p. 
Dure!) roclcbe^ Der SSarer alleS regiert, c c ^25. 

$rag. 

2Ba§ nufcet Dte|e fyerligfeit infers 
fyauptS gfoiffi? 

Sfntrtwt 

©rff(id) Dag er Durd) fctn f)ei(tgen 
@eiff/in ttn§ feine gtieber/ Die f)tinlifche 
gaben aurgeuff^. ©arnad)/ Da§ er x*n$ d Mphe/.4. 
mil fetnem gercalt roiDcr atle fetnD fdju 
$et t>nb erljelr. e « p/a*2. 

Ioan.lO* 

orag. i^/.*. 

2Ba$ troffet Did) Die roiDerfunfft 
c iiji Sfpifft 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 251 



the 
his 



37 

seek those things which are above, where 
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, 
and not things on the earth. 

Question 50. 

Why is it added: And sitteth at the 
right hand ok god? 

Answer. 

Because Christ ascended into heaven 
for this end, that He might there appear 
45 as Head of His Church, by whom the 46 h L e ^ 'of 
Father governs all things. cwh"" 

Question 51. 
What benefit do we receive from this 
glory 46 of oar Head, Christ? "cSS"' our* 

Head" 

Answer. 

First, that by His Holy Spirit He 
sheds forth heavenly gifts in us, His 
members ; then, that by His power he de- 
fends and preserves us against all ene- 
mies. 

Question 52. 
What comfort is it to thee, that Christ 



252 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

38. 

(Sfmfft jit ricfyten bie lebenbigen t>nb bie 
tobten ? 

S)agid) in atlem trubfal »nb»erfok 
gung mit auffgericbtem fyaupt / ebe DeS 
&?id)rerg ber (id) 3111101 Dem gertc^r @ot 
tcS fur mid) bargetfelt/ ttnb at!e wrma* 
lebeiung t)on rnir fytnroeg genommen 
° s UC ' 2 s' ^ at / au ^ ^ em fr me * 9*roertfg bin a / Dag 
Pk-13 er a B e f einc ^nb me * ne fa'nbe/ in bie etui 
T .,\> * ge i>erbamnu§ rcerffe 6 : mid) aber 
j 2'Theffj. fantpt aOen augerroelten 311 jm in bie 
i.!ta«/.V. ^tmttfctje freub t>nb fjerrligfeit neme. c 

^oii ®ott km Ijeflt* 

gen ©eiji 

2Ba§ glaubeflu »om (jetn'gen @etfi? 
SfatWOit 

i."cor3. (Srfffid) bag er gletd) ensiger (Sort 
i.c<w.«. mit betn 23ater »nb bp ©on tjt<*. 
^c/.5. 3 um flnbetn bag er au$ mtr gegeben 

tfi/ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 253 



38 

SHALL COMF v AGAIN TO JUDGE THE 

47 QUICK AND THE DEAD ? 47 livin ? 

Answer. 

That in all my sorrows and persecu- 
tions, with uplifted head, I look for the 
self-same 48 One, who has before offered 48 ori s- 1* " Ir \ 

7 same Judge 

Himself for me to the judgment of God 

and removed from me all curse, to come 

again 49 as Judge from heaven; 60 who" oj^ u °™j*? 

shall cast all His and my enemies into 60 " that H j, 

J may cast 

everlasting condemnation, but shall take 

me, with all 51 His chosen ones, to Him- 61 °f.g-. g ° mits 

self, into heavenly Joy and glory. 

OF GOD THE HOLY 52 GHOST. 02 Spirit 

Question 53. 

What dost thou believe concerning the 
Holy Spirit? 



Answer. 

First, that He is co-eternal God with 
the Father and the Son. Secondly, that 
He is also given unto me; makes me by 



254 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

39. 

ifta / mid) burcf) etn roaten g(auben/« Matt. 23. 
Gfaiffi t>nb aller feiner rcoltfyaten rt)ei(< 2.c*r.i. 
t>affttg mad)t£/ mid) trtffferc/ Dfi bet) 6 o fl /«*.3. 
mir bletben rcirb big in enrigfeit.rf iau. 

Srag. .12* 

2Ba§ gtaubjfti *>on Dcr fyetligen alge^ ioan.u. 
meinen @i):tftltd)en ^ird)en? lp^ 

Stntwoit 

S5ag ber (Son @otte3 au§ bem gan* 
fcen menfcblicben gefd)led)te / jf)m eineGen.4. 
augerroelre gemein gum eroigen leben/ // xom.e. 
burd) fetn @eift $nD vototg in einigfeit 3p*«m. 
beg roaren glaubenS/*/ t>on anbeginbet* *r aiS9 - 
rce(t/bi£ anSenb serfamfe/ fd)u£et>n& 
ert)alte/.t>n6 bag id) berfelben ein leben* 
bigeS glieb bin* /Mb eroig 'bleiben • uatt.u. 
roerbe, Joan.20. 

2Ba§ tterffebeftu burd) bie gemeim 
fcfyafft ber ©ctltgcn? 

<£rf!Kd) ba§ alle tmb jebe gfaubi* 
gen / alS glieber / an bem £@3R9R3f£ 
£lj:if?o / *>nb alien feinen fcte$en 
c tit] xmb 



A Ephef.5. 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



2 



39 

a true faith partaker of Christ and all 
His benefits ; comforts me ; and shall 
abide with me forever. 

Question 54. 

What dost thou believe concerning 
the 53 Holy Catholic Church ? 53 " hol y 

versal Chris- 
tian" 

Answer. 

That, out of the whole human race, 
from the beginning to the end of the 
world, the Son of God, by His Spirit 
and word, gathers, defends and preserves 
for Himself unto everlasting life, a 
chosen communion, in the unity of the 
true faith; and that I am, and forever 
shall remain, a living member of the 
same. 

Question 55. 
What dost thou understand by the 
communion of saints? 

Answer. 

First, that believers, all and every 
one, as members of 54 Christ, have part w ^ s L , ord 
in Him and in all His treasures and 



256 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

40. 

a l./oan.i.fcnbgabe/ gemeinfcbafft fiaben a. 3um 
l.cor.i. anfcern / bag em jeber feme gaben ju nufc 
»nb beit ber anbcrn gliebet/roillig tmb 
mit freubcn anjulegen fid) fcbufDig trnf 

5 i. cor. i2. fen fol.6 

2Bag glaubjiu r>c»n ttergebung ber 
©unben? 

Stntnwit 

Sag @ott umb ber gnugtbuung ebu 
<r 2.cor.5. fj{ rutllen c / aller meiner funDen / aud) 
ierem.3i. j> er fynbtidjen art / mit ber id) mem le* 
d Bom7 k entan 8 3^ ftretren babe^/nimmermeb: 
dc°7 gebenden rcif: fonber mir bie gerecbttg 
fete dfoifti aug gnaben febencfet / bag 
r r _ id) tnS gertctjt mmmermef)* foil fom* 

s iBag tr6ft btcb Die aufferjief)tmg be§ 
9tntwo:t 

i. cor. i5. Sag nicbt aliem meine feel nad) bie* 
fem lebe" al$ balb ju iSlmfto jrem fyaupt 
genommen nnrb./: fonbern aud) DaS 

bie 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



40 

gifts; secondly, that each one must feel 
himself bound to use his gifts, readily 
and cheerfully, for the advantage and 
welfare of other members. 

Question 56. 

What dost thou believe concerning the 
forgiveness of sins? 

Answer. 

That God, for the sake of Christ's 
satisfaction, will no more remember my 
sins, neither the sinful nature with which 
I have to struggle all my life long; but 
graciously 55 imparts to me the righteous- 6 * s iTes 
ness of Christ, that I may nevermore 
come into condemnation. 

Question 57. 

What comfort does the resurrection 
of the 56 body afford theef 

Answer. 

That not only my soul, after this life, 
shall be immediately taken up to Christ 
its Head; but also that this my 57 body, 87 " flesh 



flesh' 



17 



258 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

btg mem fletfcb Durd) bie frafft Sfaiffi 
aufFerwecft/roiber mir meiner feelen ocr 
eintget/ t>nb bem beiltgen £eib Gfotftt 
gleict)f02tnig roerben fot. 

2Ba3 trojt &tcf) £>er ^rtt'cf el som etm 
gen leben? 

Sag/ nact) bem icb jegunber ben an* 
fang ber etutgen freube in memem fycr* 
gen empfinbe : id) nact) btefem leben *>of 
fommene feltgfett befifcen rcerbe / bie 
fein aug gefefyen/ fern of): ge()6:t / t>nb 
in fetne6 menfcfyen l)er£ nie fomen tft / 
(Sort erotgftd) barin jupretfen. a « ioan.u. 

Stag. 

2Da<§ ^'(fft e$ &t<±> aber mm/roen &u 
Wfl alleS glaubeft? 

Sag t'd) in (*f>#o fur @ott gered)t / 
»nb em erb be$ erctgen Ubcn$ btn.6 & / oe n.«. 

ftrag. 

28te biffu gerectyt fur (Stott? 

c o Mtin 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 259 



41 

raised by the power of Christ, shall again 

be united with my soul, and 58 made like 5 ! l^- " and 

J shall become 

unto the glorious body of Christ. holy "body 'of 

Christ" 

Question 58. 

What comfort hast thou from the ar- 
ticle of the LIFE EVERLASTING? 

Answer. 

That, inasmuch as I now feel in my 
heart the beginning of eternal joy, I shall 
after this life possess complete bliss, such 
as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither hath entered into the heart of 
man; therein to praise God for ever. 

Question 59. 

But what does it help thee now, that 
thou believe st all this? 

Answer. 

That I am righteous in Christ before 
God, and an heir of eternal life. 

Question 60. 
How art thou righteous before God? 



2 6o THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

42. 

Wniwoit 

SlUetn burd) n?aren glauben in ^efum 
a 5om.s. gf):iftum a : 2(lfo / Dag ob mid) fct)on 
Ga^,2. mcin gewtficn anflagt/ Dag id) itn'Der 
*^ A aBe ©ebot ©otte* fcftroerttrf) gefunbi* 
aet/»n& berfelben fetne^ nte gefjalten 
& Bom.3. ^abe 6/ aud) nod) jmmcrbar ju allem 
c Bomj. bofen genetgt bin c : bocb @otr ofotrafe 
<f 2.Tm.3. [ e m einetterbienfU/aug tauter gnabee / 
6 #7/2 mir &l€ *>elfommene gnugtbuung// ge* 
/2 jj; 2 recf)ttgfett sonS beiligfeit Gfcifit fd)en* 
g i.ioan.2. cfct^t>n jurecfynet A/ alS feerre id) ntefetn 
A Bom.4. funbe begangen nod) gebabt/ t>nb felbff 
2.car.5.alle ben gefioifam *fcollb!act)t / ben 
» 2.G?r.5. GfaiftuS fur mid) bat geletftet i/merin 
id) aUetn fotcbe rcoftfjat mit glaubtge 
^erfeen anneme. 

2Barumb fagflu bag bu aUetn burcf) 
ben glauben gered)t fet>eff? 

2tntwoit 

9?id)t bag td) &on rcegen bet roir* 
bigfeit meineS gtaubenS <3)ott gefatfe: 
fonDern barumb baS aUein bie gnug* 

ffjuung / 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



42 
Answer. 

Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. 
That is: although my conscience accuse 
me, that I have grievously sinned against 
all the commandments of God, and have 
never kept any of them, and that I am 
still prone always to all evil, yet God, 
without any merit of mine, of mere 
grace, grants and imputes to me the 
perfect satisfaction, righteousness and 
holiness of Christ, as if I had never com- 
mitted nor had any sin, and had myself 
accomplished all the obedience which 
Christ has fulfilled for me, if only I ac- 
cept such benefit with a believing heart. 

Question 6i. 

Why sayest thou, that thou are right- 
eous only by faith? 

Answer. 

Not that I am acceptable to God on 
account of the worthiness of my faith; 
but because only the satisfaction, right- 



262 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

43. 

rtuung / gered)rigfett \>nb tyiliahit 

Efcifh / meine gerecfytigfeit fur @ott 

\$a/ »nb id) biefelbe nit anberft / benn a i.corj. 

dllein burd) ben glauben annemen / &nb 

mir jueignen fan. b » i.ioa».s. 

Stag, 

2Barumb f&inen aber ttnfere gutc 
roercf nit bie gered)tigf eit fur @oit/eber 
cin ftucf berfelben fein? 

9lntwo2t 

SDarumb bag bte gered)tigfeit/ fofur 
@oueS gericbt befteben fot / burdjaug 
$>olfommen/ttnb bem ©otttieben gcfefc 
gan$ gleid)fo:mig fein mug c / vnbc oaiau. 
aber aurb tmfere befte mercf / in biefem Deu.w. 
leben alle snuoffemen / t>nbmit funben 
beflecft jlnb.fl? d x/mLu. 

Stag. 

33erbienen aber tmfere gute roercf 
niduS / fo fie bod) @ott in X>\i\zm x>n ju 
funfftigem leben roil belofynen? 

SDiefe belofynung gefd)id)t nit aug ser 

bienft/ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



43 

eousness and holiness of Christ is my 
righteousness before God, and I can re- 
ceive the same and make it my own in 
no other may than by faith only. 

Question 62. 

But why cannot our good zvorks be 
the whole or part of our righteousness be- 
fore God? 

Answer. 

Because the righteousness which can 
stand before the judgment-seat of God, 
must be perfect throughout and wholly 
conformable to the divine law; whereas 
even our best works in this life are all 
imperfect and defiled with sin. 

Question 63. 

How is it that our good zvorks merit 
nothing, while yet it is God's zvill to re- 
ward them in this life and in that zvhich 
is to comet 

Answer. 

The reward comes not of merit, but 



264 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

44 

o Luc* I?. serbtenjt/fonbern aug gnaben,« 

£0?ad)t ober btefe lefc m'cf)t fo:gtofe 
t>nb t)eruid)te leut? 

Dte'n / benn eS snmogtuf) iff / bag 
fete / fo Gf)#o buret) ware gtauben finb 
eingepflanjt/ nt<f)t frucfyr ber banefbar 

Son kit Sciltcp 

cramenteit 

©ieroetfbeff alletn berglaub snSSfrt 
fft / tmb aller fetner rooirtjaten 
I)affrig macfyt / trover fompt folder 
glaube ? 

Slntwoit 

£)er fietltg ©eiff rcurcft fcenfefben in 
e js>^/.2.»nfern nerfcen c/ bind) bte p:ebtg be3 
ioan.3. fjetligenSuangeltonS/ t>n bejtetiget ben 
* ^««^-burcb ben b:aucb ber fyetltgen ©acra* 
menu, 2BaS 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



44 

of grace. 

Question 64. 

But does not this doctrine make men 
careless and profane ? 

Answer. 

No ; for it is impossible that those who 
are implanted into Christ by true faith, 
should not bring forth fruits of thank- 
fulness. 

OF THE HOLY SACRAMENTS. 

Question 65. 

Since then we are made partakers of 
Christ, and all His benefits, by faith only, 
whence comes this faith? 

Answer. 

The Holy Ghost works it in our hearts 
by the preaching of the Holy Gospel, and 
confirms it by the use of the Holy Sac- 
raments. 



266 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

45. 

f&ai feinb bie Sacrament? 

Slntnwt 

@3 feint) fufybare t)eilige roarjeidjen 
»n6 ©igill/ t>on @ott barju eingefeljt / 
bag er t>n$ turd) ben bjaucb beifelben / 
bte tterfyetfifung be6 (SuangeltonS beffc 
beffer guuerffeben gebe / *>nb serjlgele: 
3?emltct) bag er sn£ son roegen beg et* 
ntgen opffer^ gljMfit / am Sreufc sol* 
foad)t /ttergebung ber funben/$nb ettn*a Qtni7. 
ge£ leben aug gnaben fdjemfe,* 

©einb benn bet)be baS men tmb bte s ^ 9m ' 
©acrament babm gerid)t/ bag fte *>n* a^jo, 
fern glauben / auff ba§ opffer 3>e_fu Sb:t 
fit am Sreufc/ alS auff ben einige grunb 
sonferer feligfeit roeifen? 

Slntmoit 

3aftet)ltef)/ben berf)eift'g @etff le^ret 
im (bagclio/ t>n befiettget buret) bte fyei 
ftgen ©aaament/ bag xmfere ganfee fe* 
hgfett fiefye in bem einigen opffer Sf):t*& e. 
fit / fur »n$ am (Sreufc gefctjefyen. b *■ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



45 

Question 66. 
What are the Sacraments? 
Answer. 

The Sacraments are visible, holy signs 
and seals, appointed of God for this end, 
that by the use thereof He may the more 
fully declare and seal to us the promise 
of the Gospel: namely, that He grants 
us out of free grace the forgiveness of 
sins and everlasting life, for the sake of 
the one sacrifice of Christ accomplished 
on the cross. 

Question 67. 
Are both these, then, the Word and the 
Sacraments, designed to direct our faith 
to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the 
cross, as the only ground of our salva- 
tion? 

Answer. 

Yes truly; for the Holy 59 Ghost 69 s P irit 
teaches in the Gospel, and by the Holy 
Sacraments assures us, that our whole 
salvation stands in the one sacrifice of 
Christ made for us on the cross. 



268 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

45 

2BteuieI (Sacrament tjat <5$3t{hi< tm 
nercen£effament eingefefct? 

3tntw<»t 
3n)ei)/Sen^etltgenS:auff/»n& i>a$ 
fyeilig SlbenDmal. 

2Bie nrirjhi im feei'ttgen £auff er* 
tnnert wtD t>erHd)ert / Dag DaS cinu 
ge opffer S^ijit am Greufc Dir ju gut 
Eomme ? 

^ffofcagSfcifhtf Dig c'ufierKcb rcafc 
ferbab eingejefcr/ t>nD Darbet) wrfieifien 
f)at/ Dag id) fo gercig mit fetnem blut 
*>nb geift/ *>on Der t>nreinigfeit meiner 
feefen / Dag iff / alien meinr n funDen ge* 
rcaffdjen fei) / fo gerotg id) euflferlid) 
mit Dem rcafier / ivcldjeS Die ttnfau* 
» jferx berfeir DeMeibS pflegc fynjunemen/ge* 
^wc.s. njaffcben bin.fl 

2Ba§ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 269 



46 

Question 68. 

How many Sacraments has Christ ap- 
pointed in the New Testament ? 

Answer. 

Two: Holy Baptism, and the Holy 
Supper. 

OF HOLY BAPTISM. 

Question 69. 

60 How is it signified and sealed MW ^5ioa t rSSd©d 
thee in Holy Baptism, that thou hast ^arfg^asjured m 
in the one sacrifice of Christ on the crossf 1 ^.^ ° ne 

' J sacrifice of 

Christ on the 

Answer. gfttfc 
Thus: that Christ has appointed this 
outward washing with water, and has 
joined therewith this promise, that I am 
washed with His blood and Spirit from 
the pollution of my soul, that is, from all 
my sins, as certainly as I am washed 
outwardly with water, whereby com- 
monly the filthiness of the body is taken 
away. 



270 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

47 

2Ba6 fjeiff mit bem blue t>nb (Seijf 
Gfjnjfi geroafifcfyen fein? 

@§ fyeijt sergebung ber funDen son 
©ott aug gnaben f)aben/wnb be$ b(ut§ 
e^ifti tm'Uen /roe(cf)S er in feinem opf* 
fer amSreufcfur »n3 ttergojfen fyata:* J2e5r.j2. 
SDarnacfi auct) burcb ben t;etligen ©eift 
ernercert/Mb ju einem gfieb Sfpiffi ge ^ oc - 2 - 
Ijetliget fein / bag ttnr jelengcr je mefa i ac V!l 
bet funben abfrerben/ ttn tn einem ©ott sec ' ' 
feltgen/ t>n(?reflid)en leben roanblen* b * loan- 1. 

l oh c7t 

2Bo fat GfctfiuS t>erf)eiffen / bj Wit 1. Cor. 12. 
fs> gerot'g mit feinem blut »nt> geift afe #<„».,}. 
tntt Dem tauffroafifer geroaffcfyen feint)? coiof.s. 

5tntwojt. 

2>n ber cinfefeung De§ Stauff§ / nscfcfec 
dfo fautet. ®c|et fyn / trnb leljs 
ret atte 33Mcfer / Dnt> tauffet fte/ 
int nanten fceS SSaterS tmt> t>e3 
©onS / ton beS IjetUgen ©ctft$/ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 271 



47 

Question 70. 

What is it to be washed with the 
blood and Spirit of Christ ? 

Answer. 

It is to have the forgiveness of sins 
from God, through grace, for the sake 
of Christ's blood, which He shed for us 
in His sacrifice on the cross ; and also, to 
be renewed by the Holy Ghost, and sanc- 
tified to be members of Christ, that so 
we may more and more die unto sin, and 
lead holy and unblamable lives. 

Question 71. 

Where has Christ promised, that we 
are as certainly washed with His blood 
and Spirit as zvith the water of Baptism? 

Answer. 

In the institution of Baptism, which 
runs thus : Go ye, 61 therefore, and teach fi1 °7 < j t re » the 
all nations, 62 baptizing them in the name 62 and bapti: 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy 63 Ghost. He that believeth and 93 s P irit 



2 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

4S 

wcr i>a glauftet fcnb gctaujfet 
roirb / bcr uurb jclty acrDcn: 
wcr.abcr mrf)t gldubt / i>er wivt) 

« tcrbampt roerfcen, a Stcfc t>erbcif^ 
fung nnrDt aud> . roiDerfjoler / Da Die 
fct):t|ft Den Saujf Da£ baD Der raiDer* 

& Tn. 3. gebmt& onD abroaj|ct)ung Der funDen 

e Act. 22. hennet. c 

3ft benn Da§ eujTerud) tt)aj]*erbab Die 
abroafifctjung Der funDen felbjl? 

Matt 3 1 * Clln aUein ^ ^ e f U 

i Pet I'. S^ifti / »nD Der beilige @eiji reiniget 
j^*e/.5.^>n^ *>on alien funDen. e 

SBarumb nennet Demt Der fyeiltge 
©eiji Den £autt Da3 baD Der roiDerge* 
burt / t>nD Die atroaficfjung Der fun* 
Den? 

@ott rebet alfo ntd)t oljne groffe m* 

fact)/ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
48 

is baptized, shall be saved; but he that 
believeth not, shall be damned. This 
promise is also repeated, where the 
Scripture calls Baptism the washing of 
regeneration, and the washing away of 
sins. 

Question 72. 

Is then the outward washing with 
water itself the washing away of sins? 

Answer. 

No ; for only the blood of Jesus Christ 
and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all 
sin. 

Question 73. 

Why, then, doth the Holy 64 Ghost call u Spirit 
Baptism the washing of regeneration, and 
the washing away of sins? 

Answer. 

God speaks thus not without great 



18 



274 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

fad) / ncmlicf) / nit aflein bag ermtSba* 
nut roil lebren / bag / gleid) rote Die t>n* 
fauberfeir beS IcibS 6urd) roaffer / olfa 
snfere funben burd)$ Wut trngeiff Sf)n 
tfi f)inroeggenommcn roerben* : fonber« a P oc. i. 
ttielmebi / bj er t)nS buret) big ©ottlid) & 7. 
pfanb vnb roarjeidjen roil t>crfict)cren / i.cor.e. 
bog roir fo roarfcaffrig son tmfern fun* 
ben geiftlict) geroaficben finb/ alS roir 
ntit Dem letbltd)en roaffer geroaficben * uarem 
roerben. b oaiat.z. 

(?oll man aucb bie jungen Uinber 
tauffen? 

3>a : Senn bieroei( fte fo roo! af§ bie 
alten in ben bunbr @otte§ tmb feine ge* 
mein get)6:en c / t>nb jnen in bem b(ut<. oen.17 
Efaifti bie erl6fung t>on funben*/ / t)nb* jfa«.ip. 
ber beiltg ©eijl / roefeber ben glauben 
roircfet/ nitroem'ger benn ben alren ju* 
gefagt rotrb c/fofolle fte aud) burebben* Luc. 1. 
tauff/al§be$23unb§ geidje/berSfoifc 
tid)en £ird)en eingeleibt / tmb son ber 

b tmglau* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 275 



49 

cause: namely, not only to teach us 
thereby that like as the filthiness of the 
body is taken away by water, so our 
sins also are taken away by the blood 
and Spirit of Christ; but much more, 
that by this divine pledge and token He 
may assure us, that we are as really 
washed from our sins spiritually, as our 
bodies are washed with water. 

Question 74. 
Are infants also to be baptised? 

Answer. 

Yes. For since they, as well as their 
parents, belong to the covenant and peo- 
ple of God, and both 65 redemption f rom 85 deIiverance 
sin and the Holy 66 Ghost, who works 96 s P irit 
faith, are through the blood of Christ 
promised to them no less than to their 
parents; they are also by Baptism, as a 
sign of the covenant, to be 67 ingrafted* 7 incor P° rated 
into the Christian Church, and distin- 



6 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

50 

twglaubtgen finbern t>nt>crfcf)eibe roer 
a Aa.io. ben a / rote im atren Seftament burd) 
5 Qen.i7.-i>k befdmetbung gefd)et)en iff ft / an 
e co/o/A roelcber fitat im neroen £eftament bet 

Stauff ill eingefeijt. c 

SSie roirffu im beiligen Slbenbmaf 
ertnnert snb tterficfyert / bag bu an 
bem etntgen opffer Sfynfft am Greufc / 
*>nb alien feinen gurern gemeirtfdjafft 
feabef?? 

Sllfo basest ftuS mtr snb alien glau 
bigen son biefem gebiocbnen taob ju 
effen / t>nb son btefem 5Mcf) gu trincfen 
befof)len fyat/ t)nb barbjty tterbeifien/ 
(Srfitid) bag fein letb fo geroig fur mid) 
am Sreufc geopffert tmb getoocfyen / 
Mb fein btut fur mid) sergofien fet) / fo 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 277 
50 

guished from the children of unbelievers, 
as was done in the Old Testament by 
Circumcision, in place of which in the 
New Testament Baptism is appointed. 



OF THE HOLY SUPPER OF THE 
LORD. 



Question 75. 



68 How is it signified and sealed w»/o^^J e ^1 nd d 
thee in the Holy Supper, that thou dost^ Hoiy re Sup" 
partake of the one sacrifice of Christ onl er that 

r J 11 has part in the 

the cross and all His benefits ? one sacrifice of 

' Christ on the 

Cross and in 
all its bene- 
fits? 

Answer. 



Thus; that Christ has commanded me 
and all believers to eat of this broken 
bread, and to drink of this cup, and has 
joined therewith these promises: First, 
that His body was offered and broken 
on the cross for me, and His blood shed 



278 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

5t. 

geroi§ id) nut augcn fe{)e / ba£ bag b:ob 
beg £enn mir geb:od)en/ tmb bcr ^elch 
mir mitgeteilet roirb. 93nb jum anbern / 
bag er felbfr meine feel mit fetnem ge* 
creufeigren (eib t>nb ttergofienen blur fo 
gen)i^su etuigen leben fpetfe un trencfe / 
alS id) aug bcr banbt beg Stenerg em* 
pfange t>nb feiblid) ntefife bag b:ob unb 
ben Sefcb beg £scnn/ rceldje mir a(g ge* 
roififeroarjeicfyen beg leibg t>n blutgSfci 
fri gegeben roerben. 

Stag. 

2Bag fjeift ben gecreufciaten letb £ fci 
fti efien / ton fein t>ergofifen blut trincfen ? 

@g betft nit allein mit gfaubtgem f)er 
fcen bag gan£e leiben tmb fterben gfci* 
fti annemen / tmb barburd) t>ergebung 
ber funben tmb eroigeg feben bef omen : a a 
Sonber aud) barneben burd) ben fyeilt* 
$en ©eiji / ber jugleid) in efj:iffa »nb 
in t>ng wonet / alfo mit feinem gebene* 
betnen feib je mefo tmb mef): \>ereimgef 6 
roerben^/ bag irir / obgleid) er im tym* 
b iji met a/ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



51 

for me, as certainly as I see with* my 
eyes the bread of the Lord broken for 
me, and the cup communicated to me; 
and further, that, with His crucified body 
and shed blood, He Himself feeds and 
nourishes my soul to everlasting life, as 
certainly as I receive from the hand of 
the minister, and taste with my mouth, 
the bread and cup of the Lord, which are 
given me as certain tokens of the body 
and blood of Christ. 

Question 76. 

What is it to eat the crucified body 
and drink the shed blood of Christ? 

Answer. 

It is not only to 69 embrace with a 66accept 
believing heart all the sufferings and 
death of Christ, and thereby to obtain 
the forgiveness of sins and life eternal; 
but moreover also, to be so united more 
and more to His 70 sacred body by tlu 70 blessed 
Holy 71 Ghost, who dwells both in Christ s P irit 
and in us, that although He is in heaven, 



28o THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

52. 

a Act.3. me [ a/ t>n wiv auff erben finb / bcnnort) 
i.eor. u. fleifd) t>on fcincm flctfcf) / t>nb betn uon 

& jpp*eA 5. feinen bemen finD 6 / t>nb toon cinem 
i.cor& geift (wic Die glte&cr anfcrS (eibS son 
/.7oa«.3.€tner fec(en) enM'g feben t>nb regieret 
& 4. werDcn. c 

Bphef. 3. c* 



Joha.14, 

e Ioan,6. 
d 15. 



2Qo fiat SfctftuS t>ert)eiffen / bag er 
iu'e gtaubigen fo gercif? a(fo mtr fcincm 
teib *>nb blur fpcifc t>nb rrcncfe / aid fie 
tton bicfem g,eb:oct)ncn b:ob effen/t>nb 
t>on biefem £eld) trtncfcn? 

3>n bet einfa^ung 6cS 2(benbmat£ / 
_metd)c alfo (auteu: 33nfer £©rt 
MaitM. 3efu3 in t>er nac^t t>a er.ttcrrfya 
uar.u. t en njari) / nam er bag t>iot>t/ 
£u ' 22 ' bancfer tmt> l>:adj$ ton fp:ady 
Fernet /effrty i>a£ ift mein leify 
ber fnr end) gefcotfjen , roirbt/ 
<§oIq?e3 ttjut p meincr 'gebe$t 
nu§. Sejfel&m gleict?en aud) 

ben 



d 1. Cor. 11. 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 281 



52 

and we on the earth, we are neverthless 
flesh of his flesh and bone of His bones, 
and live and are governed for ever by 
one Spirit, as members of the same body 
are by one soul. 

Question 77. 
Where has Christ promised, that He 
unll thus feed and nourish believers with 
His body and blood, as certainly as they 
eat of this broken bread and drink of 
this Cup? 

Answer. 

In the institution of the Supper, which 
runs thus : 72 The Lord Jesus, the same 72 o« r 
night in which He was betrayed, took 
bread; 73 and when He had given thanks, 73 jgj^ 
He brake it, and said : Take, eat, this is said 
My body, which is broken for you; this 
do in remembrance of Me. After the 
same manner also He took the cup, when 



282 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



53. 

ben Sttld) i nad) bem 2lbenbt? 
mat / onb fmam : S)iefer ^eld) 
ift bag neroe Seftament in met; 
mm Mut/ fotdjeg tt;ut / fo offt 
jtg trincft / §u mcincv gebecfyt; 
nufj : £>enn fo offt jr oon bie? 
fern moo effet / onb oon biefcm 
$etd) trincfet / fott jv beg <£>er= 
ren tobt oerfunbigen / bifi bag 

er fom|)t. 33nt> btefe x>erl)etfrung rcirt 
aurb reiCerfjolet t>urd) ©. tyaulum a a z.cor.io. 
t>aerfp!td)t: 2)er fetd? ber banrf; 
fagung / bamit wir bancffage/ 
ift er nit bie gemctnfwafft beg 
blutg (Styifti ? Sag foobt bag 
»ir b:ed)en / ift bag nit bie ge* 
meinfcfyafft beg leibg (SfyijH? 
benn ein mob iftg / fo feinb wir 
Die! ein leib / bieweil wir aUe 
b iij eineg 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
53 

He had supped, saying: This cup is the 
New Testament in My blood; this do 
ye as often as ye drink it, in remem- 
brance of Me. For as often as ye eat 
this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show 
the Lord's death till He come. 

And this promise is repeated also by 
St. Paul, where he says: The cup of 
blessing which we bless, is it not the 
communion of the blood of Christ? The 
bread which we break, is it not the com- 
munion of the body of Christ? For we, 
being many, are one bread, and one body ; 
for we are all partakers of that one 



284 TH E HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

54 

eineS toot)$ tfyeilfyafftig feinb, 

SBBirfc ben aup b:ot &nD roetn ber roe^ 
fenr(ict) (cib r>n£ b(ur Gb#i? 

9cetn : fonber roie ba£ naffer in ber 
> Sauff / nit in bj blur gfaijli uerrcabett / 
ober bie abrcajTcfmng ber funben fetbff 
« 25. rDtrb / beren eg atfetn ein ©ottlid) roarjet 
ifar j^. d)en t)nb t)erficf)erung ifta : alio roirb 
b l.cor.u.aud) b3 fyeilig b:ob im 3?ad)tma( mtb' 
2.c 0 r.:<?.ieib (i^ifii felbff b/wkwoi e* nact) art 
c Gen.i7. t>nb b:auch Der ©acramenten c ber (eib 
£W 12. Sfaijii genent wtrb. 

r *- 5 - Stag, 

j 2Qarum nenner ben GfniffuS baS biob 

J Cor 10 feineleib/Dnben&elcf) fetn blut/ober bj 

newe Setfament in feine blur / t>nb ©. 

33au(u£ bie gemeinfcfyafft be$ leibS onb 

blun? SefuSbifti? 

Sfaijhig rebet alfo nit one groffe 
fact) / nemlicb/ ba§ er un$ nit allein ba* 
mir roil lef):en / bap /gleid) roie toob on 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
54 

bread. 

Question 78. 
Do then the bread and wine become 
the real body and blood of Christ? 

Answer. 

No: but as the water, in Baptism, is 
not changed into the blood of Christ, nor 
becomes the washing away of sins itself, 
being only the divine token and assur- 
ance thereof ; so also, in the Lord's Sup- 
per, the sacred bread does not become 
the body of Christ itself, though agree- 
ably to the nature and usage of sacra- 
ments it is called the body of Christ. 

Question 79. 
Why then doth Christ call the bread 
His body, and the cup His blood, or the 
New Testament in His blood; and St. 
Paul, the communion of the body and 
blood of Christ? 

Answer. 

Christ speaks thus not without great 
cause: namely, not only to teach us 
thereby, that, like as bread and wine 



Question 8o. 75 »Thi ? ques- 

is omitted in 
the first edi- 

What difference is there between the tlon 
Lord's Supper and the Popish Mass? 



Answer. 

The Lord's Supper testifies to us, that 
we have full forgiveness of all our sins 
by the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, 
which He Himself has once accomplished 
on the cross; and that by the Holy 
Ghost we are 76 ingrafted into Christ, who 16 incorporated 
with His true body is now in heaven 
at the right hand of the Father, and is 
to be there worshipped. But the Mass 
teaches, that the living and the dead have 
not forgiveness of sins through the suf- 
ferings of Christ, unless Christ is still 
daily offered for them by the priests; 
and that Christ is bodily under the form 
of bread and wine, and is therefore to 
be worshipped in them. [And thus the 
Mass at bottom is nothing else than a 
denial of the one sacrifice and passion of 
Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.] 



288 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

55. 

rcein ba$ jettttcfye leben erMten / affo fet> 

aucb fein gecreu$igter leib t)nb t^ergof^ 

fen btut/bieiuare fpcif? tmbtrancf x>nfer 

feeten/jum eroigen leben a : fonber wi« iohan.e. 

met): bag er buret) Dig ftct)tbare jeu 

d)en / tmb pfanb mil x>erftct)ern / bag 

rcir fo roarbafftcg feine£ waren leibS t)n 

blutg buret) roirtfung be6 bei(ige@eift3 

tf>eitf>afftig rcerben / al§ anr biefe beili* 

ge warjeicben / mit bem teiblicbe nmnb 

3U feiner gebecfyrnugempfangen: t>nb bj* ic^r.ja. 

at! fein leiben snb jierben fo gerotg t)n* 

fer eigen fet> / al§ betten iuir felbfi an t>n* 

fee eigen perfon alle£get(rten unbgenug 

geiban. 

28eld)e fallen ju bem £tfcf) feeder* 
ren fommen? 

©ie inen felbff umb jrer fun&en ivt'Uen 
migfallen / t)n boot) x>errran>en / bag bie 
felbtgc inen tterjiegen wib bie ttbige 
fd)U)act)betr mit bem (eiben t?nb fterben 
Stjjijft bebecft fet) / begeren auct) je met)? 

unb 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 2 \ 



55 

sustain this temporal life, so also His 
crucified body and shed blood are the 
true meat and drink of our souls unto 
life eternal ; but much more, by this visi- 
ble sign and pledge to assure us, that 
we are as really partakers of His true 
body and blood, through the working of 
the Holy Ghost, as we receive by the 
mouth of the body these holy tokens in 
remembrance of Him; and that all His 
74 sufferings and obedience are as cer- Tt su fy-™ g and 
tainly our own, as if we had ourselves 
suffered and done all in our own 
persons. 

Question 8i. 
Who are to come unto the table of 
the Lord? 

Answer. 

Those who are displeased with them- 
selves for their sins, yet trust that these 
are forgiven them, and that their re- 
maining infirmity is covered by the pas- 
sion and death of Christ; who also de- 
sire more and more to strengthen their 



19 



0 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

56. 

mtb mefh jren glauben juffercfeit t>nb 
a l.cor.w. )r (eben ju beffern / bie j>nbugfertigen 
& u. aber t>nb f)euc^ler ej|en ton. trtncfen jnen 
fetbjl bag gertd)t.a 

Stag. 

(Solle aber ju biefem 2tbenbma( audi 
Sugefaften werben / bie fid) mit jrer be* 
fanfmtf? t>nb (eben/algt>nglaubige ttnb 
©ottfofe erjetgen? 

1 t.cor. u. Jftein : benn eg roirbt atfo ber bunbt 
Efau. @otteg,gefd)med)t / tmb fein join t>ber 

66. bie ganfce gemein geret'6et& . Sertjalben 
ierem.7. fa gfynjHiche ^trct> jfcbulbtg tit/ nad) 
p/awo. ber o>bnung Sl}M'jlt t>n fetner&poffefn / 
folcfye big gu beiJerung jreg lebengburd) 
bag ampt ber fd)Iufie( augjufefyfteffen. 

Stag. 

SSag iff bag ampt ber ©cf)luffel? 

Slntwoit 

SDte^ebig beg ftetftge @uangetton8/ 
fcnb bie Gf):ifHid)e 55ugjU(i)t / burd), 
roetd)e beibe jiucf bag Ijimmetreid) ben 

gfaubt* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



56 

faith and amend their life. But the im- 
penitent and hypocrites eat and drink 
judgment to themselves. 

Question 82. 
Are they then also to be admitted to 
this Supper, who show themselves to be, 
by their confession and life, unbelieving 
and ungodly ? 

Answer. 

No: for by this the covenant of God 
is profaned, and His wrath provoked 
against the whole congregation; where- 
fore the Christian Church is bound, ac- 
cording to the order of Christ and His 
Apostles, by the office of the keys to 
exclude such persons, until they amend 
their life. 

Question 83. 
What is the Office of the Keys? 
Answer. 

The Preaching of the Holy Gospel 
and 77 Church Discipline ; by which two TT 
things, the kingdom of heaven is opened 



292 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

57. 

glaubfgen auffgefcbfofien / *>nb ben tm* 
glaubtgen gugefcfytofien roivi). 

SCBie voixb ba§ btmmefret'd) bur* bte 
piebtg beS ^etftgen (SuangefionS auff 
twb sugefdjtofifen ? 

SttttWOJt 

2ttfo / baS nacf) bem befeM) Sfynjtt al* 
(en t>nb ieben glaubtgen uerfunbtgt t>nb 
offentltd) bejeuge* nn'rb/ bag jne fo offt 
fie bie tterijetffung be§ (SuangeltonS nut 
roarem gtauben annemen / roarfyaflrttg 
atle jre funben t>on &ott /umb beS t>er? 
btenjiS (5f)2tjft rotllen sergeben (Inb: 
*>nb fjerrotberumb alien tmglaubtgen 
t>nb fyeucfyfew / bag ber jom@otre§ t)ff 
bte erotge tferbamnug auff jtten h'gty fo© 
Jang fie lid) nit be!eren« : 9Zac^ roefcfye 
geugnuf? beg (Suangeltj$ort betbe in bte 
fern t>n jufunffttgen leben wtfjetle roil. 

SGBte rotrb bag £tmefretcfj auff »nb 
jugef^Ioffen / burd) bte (Sfcijlltdje 
33u&ucftt? 

b d 2Ufo 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



57 

to believers and shut against unbelievers. 
Question 84. 

How is the kingdom of heaven opened 
and shut by the Preaching of the Holy 
Gospel? 

Answer. 

In this way: that according to the 
command of Christ, it is proclaimed and 
openly witnessed to believers, one and 
all, that as often as they accept with true 
faith the promise of the Gospel, all their 
sins are really forgiven them of God for 
the sake of Christ's merits; and on the 
contrary, to all unbelievers and hypo- 
crites, that the wrath of God and eternal 
condemnation abide on them, so long 
as they are not converted: according to 
which witness of the Gospel, will be the 
judgment of God both in this life and 
in that which is to come. 

Question 85. 
Hozv is the kingdom of heaven shut 
and opened by 78 Church Discipline? 



294 T HE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



58. 

2Ufc Dag nad) bum befehl Gfaitfi / bie 
jemgen fo vnrer bem£b:ifHid)e namen/ 
tMictmfrltd^e lef): ob rcanbet fuf>re / nad) 
bem fie etlid) mat fruberlid) oermanet 
fein/ unb tton jren jrrfyumen ober lafrern 
nit abfieben /ber fircfyen ober benen / fo 
son Der f irche barju t>ero:bnet )lnb/an< 
gesetgt / t>n fo fie fid) an Derfelbe t>erma 
nung aurf) nitferen/ t>on jnen btird) t>er 
btetung berbetlige (Sacrament au§ Der 
a Matt.is. £f):iftlid)e gemem/ ttn Don Oott fetbfi / 
i.cor.5. au£ bem $eid) Sfctftt rcerben augge* 
fd)lofien: ttnrtMberum a(S gtteber Qku 
flii onb ber fircben anqenomen/ wen fie 
ware befferung \>erf)etffen sfi erjeigen.* 

$er kittt Xtil 

93on ber 2)ancftmrfeit 

Steroetl roir benn au§ snferm efenbr 
one alle snfere Dcrtte nft / au§ gnafcen 
burd)Gh:tftum erfofet feinb / roarumb 
follen roir gute noercf tfyun? 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 295 



58 

Answer. 

In this way: that according to the 
command of Christ, if any under the 
Christian name show themselves un- 
sound either in doctrine or life, and after 
repeated brotherly admonition refuse to 
turn from their errors or evil ways, they 
are complained of to the church or 79 to 79 to those ap- 

■*• pointed for 

its proper officers, and, if they ne ^ ect {,y is th p e ul Jh u ? C h 
to hear them also, are by them excluded 
from the Holy Sacraments and the Chris- 
tian communion, and by God Himself 
from the kingdom of Christ ; and if they 
promise and show real amendment, they 
are again received as members of Christ 
and 80 His Church. 80 the 



THE THIRD PART 

OF THANKFULNESS. 

Question 86. 
Since then we are 81 redeemed from 61 
our misery, by grace through Christ, 
without any merit of ours, why must we 
do good works? 



296 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

Sittoozt 

©arumb , bag/ nad)bem t>nS Sfci* 
#u$ nut feinem blut erfaufft bat/ (o er* 
newert er t>n$ aud) burd) feme beiligen <* *o»». *. 
@eiji ju feine ebenbtlb / bag roir mtt sn* * *?• 
fcrm ganljen (eben \>n£ bancfbar gegen x.p«*a 
©ott fur feine roottbat erjeigen a/w cr ic*.*. 
buret) t>n$ gepiiefen merbe b / barnad) 6 ira«.5. 
aud)/ ba£ roir bet) t>n£ fefbft t>nferS glau i .p«*a 
ben£ aug feinen fritrfitcn geroig feine /c i.Pet.i. 
t>nb mit ttnferm ©otrfed'ge roanbel/ t>n* jf a „. 7 . 
fere ned)f?en aud) Sfciflo geroinnen.d 

$rag< * 1 f et - 2 - 

^onnen benn bic nidjt felig mx* J<om U - 
ben / bte fid) t>on jrem snbanefbaren 
tmbugfertigen wanbel $u ©ott nid)t 
beferen ? 

tfemSroegS : benn / rote bte fdpifftfa* 
get / fein rmfeuffeber / 2ibg6rttffct>er / 

Sf)eb:ed)er/£)teb/ ©eifctger/Sruncfen^ lcot.s. 

polfc / Scfferer / dauber *>nb bergfeichen B P he/.5. 

wtrb ba$ reid) ©otteS erben.i? j./ oq ^3. 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



59 

Answer. 

Because Christ, having 82 redeemed us 82 purchased 
by His blood, renews us also by His 
Holy Spirit after His own image, that 
with our whole life we may show our- 
selves thankful to God for His blessing, 
and that He may be glorified through us ; 
then also, that we ourselves may be as- 
sured of our faith by the fruits thereof, 
and by our godly walk may win 83 others 88 0 " r 0 r S eigh 
also to Christ. 

Question 87. 

Can they then not be saved, who do 
not turn to God from their unthankful, 
impenitent life? 

Answer. 

By no means: for, as the Scripture 
saith, no unchaste person, idolater, adul- 
terer, thief, covetous man, drunkard, 
slanderer, robber, or any such like, shall 
inherit the kingdom of God. 



298 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

60. 

3>n roieuiel ffiicfen jiefiet i>te warfyaff 
tigc bu§ ofccr beferung beg merifctjen ? 

3>n Sweden ffutfen : 3>n abfferbung 
a 7w j> c g a ( ten a l w auiterfte[)ung l>e£ neroe 
j?pAe/-. 4. mcnfcl)en. 

l Cor.5. ^ {ft ^ abfterbung Jj e g a(ten 

menfd)en ? 

3>m &ic funfce son f)erl?en laffen leibt 
fein/ t>nb fckfelbige }e lenger je meb: baf* 
fen DrtD fliefyen. & 

* /^Jf iff kic auffcrftefyung fceS nero* 

en menfdjen? 

c /W5. £crljlicf)e freufc in @ott/ *>n& luff t>n 
* «. lieb fyaben narf) fcem rcillen @otre^ c/ in 
alien guten roercfen juleben. ^ 

2Belcbe» (einfc aber gute roercf ? 

2IUetn 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
60 

Question 88. 

In how many things does true repent- 
ance or conversion consist? 

Answer. 

In two things: the dying of the old 
man, and the quickening of the new. 

Question 89. 
What is the dying of the old man? 

Answer. 

Heartfelt sorrow for sin; causing us 
to hate and turn from it always more 
and more. 

Question 90. 
What is the quickening of the new 
man? 

Answer. 

Heartfelt joy in God; causing us to 
take delight in living according to the 
will of God in all good works. 

Question 91. 
But what are good works? 



300 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

61. 

SiUein bie aug awem glauben a ; 
nad) fcem gefel? @ottc^ & • jin ju cfaen 
gefdje^en c/ t>n& nicfyr Die auff vnfera j?o«.i4. 
gurbuncfen o&er menfd)enfa<?ung ge*& i.sam,u, 
grunfeet feinix J^p. 

grofl. c 1CorJ0 ' 

2Bie (aut ba§ gefe$ be§£erm? J 

3lntwwt. 

llatt.15. 

(Stott reiiet afle btfe towt 

3$ ton ber £(5Dt9i t>ein 
®ott / frer i(f> t>td) au# ©g^? 
ptenlant> / <u$ t)em JDtenftyaufj 
gefiiret ^af>e.- 

2)u fott fein anfcer ©otter fur 
mir \jabm. 

$u felt Mr fein SH&mif? 
nocfj jrgenbt em gteict)nu§ ma? 

d;en/ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



61 

Answer. 

Those only which are done from true 
faith, according to the Law of God, for 
His glory; and not such as rest on our 
own opinion, or the commandments of 
men. 

Question 92. 
What is the Law of God? 

Answer. 

God spake all these words, saying: 

First Commandment. 

I am the Lord thy God, which have 
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, 
out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt 
have no other gods before Me. 

Second Commandment. 
Thou shalt not make unto thee any 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



62. 

djen / tt>cbcr befj / ba$ often im 
#imel / nod) befj / bog onben 
auff (Stben / ot>ev bejj / bflS im 
aflffer imber ber erben ift / 2)u 
folt ftc md)t cmoeten / nod) jncn 
bienen / benn id) ber «£er: bein 
©ott Din cin ftartfer etyucriger 
©ott/ bcr bic ntiffet^flt berSSd* 
tcr l)eimfud)i an ben 3tmbern 
oifi m3 britt tmb oierb glib/ be? 
ren bie mid) 1)flffen / imb tl)ue 
Dflrmfyerfctgfeit on Diet taufen? 
ben bie mid? lieoen / tmb meine 
©eoot fatten. 

in. 

2m folt ben Staen beg £er 
ren beineg ©otteS nid)t niifc 
faautfpen / £enn ber £en ttrirb 

ben 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
62 

graven image, or any likeness of any 
thing that is in heaven above, or that 
is in the earth beneath, or that is in the 
water under the earth; thou shalt not 
bow down thyself to them, nor serve 
them. For I the Lord thy God am a 
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the 
fathers upon the children unto the third 
and fourth generation of them that hate 
Me; and showing mercy unto thousands 
of them that love Me, and keep my com- 
mandments. 

Third Commandment. 

Thou shalt not take the name of the 
Lord thy God in vain ; for the Lord will 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



63. 

yen nidjt tmgeftrap taffen/ ber 
fcincn namen mi^hau^t. 

mi. 

©ebentf be3 <&<tibafyta$/ 
bag bu $n Ijeittgeft. <&t$$ tag 
foftu art>eiten / tmb atte bcine 
roertf t|un / after am fuUn- 
ben tage if* bcr (Sabfcatl) beg 
$enen beineS ©otteg / ba fott 
bu feine arfceit t^un / nod) bein 
(Son / no# Peine Sodjter / nod) 
bein $ned)t / nod) beine magt/ 
nod) bein 93te1) / nod) b fremb* 
ling ber in beine tyoien i% 2>en 
in fed)S tage $at ber J>en ^tmcl 
tm erben gemadjt/ on b& me$y 
onb atteS roa$ brinnen ijt / onb 
r^uete am ftbenbe tage / baf urn 

fegnete 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
63 

not hold him guiltless that taketh His 
name in vain. 

Fourth Commandment. 

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it 
holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do 
all thy work: but the seventh day is the 
Sabbath of the Lord thy God ; in it thou 
shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy 
son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, 
nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor 
thy stranger that is within thy gates. 
For in six days the Lord made heaven 
and earth, the sea, and all that in them 
is, and rested the seventh day; where- 



20 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



64 

fegnete tier #en i>ett <3a&ktl> 
tat; / tmt> tyeiligte jn. 

V. 

2>u frit i?ein 33ater fcnt) i>eu 
ue Gutter et):en / auff t>ap t>u 
tamj tefceft tat l l ant> / t>a$ t>ir 
i>ev £en t>ein ®rit gibt. 

VI. 

2>u frit nit tiftten. 

VII. 

$>u frit nit (Efyefaecfrm. 

VIII. 

$u frit nit ftefen. 

IX. 

2>u frit fein frif$ &eugnn£ 
refcen tt>i£>er fceinen nedjften. 

X. 

bid) nit getiiften beineS 

necfyften £au|5 / £a£ bid) nit 

gefttften t>eine3 nedjften wibfy 

nod) 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
64 

fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, 
and hallowed it. 

Fifth Commandment. 

Honor thy father and thy mother ; that 
thy days may be long upon the land 
which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 

Sixth Commandment. 
Thou shalt not kill. 

Seventh Commandment. 
Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

Eighth Commandment. 
Thou shalt not steal. 

Ninth Commandment. 

Thou shalt not bear false witness 
against thy neighbor. 

Tenth Commandment. 

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's 
house; thou shalt not covet thy neigh- 



3 o8 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

64 

nod) feineS $ned)tg / nod) fek 
ner 9flagt> / nodj feine3 Dd); 
fen / nocfyfeineS (SfelS/ nod) aU 
U§ t>a3 frein needier l)ai 

5£Bie rcerfcen Dtefc @cbot getetlt? 

3tntwo2t 

3>n jrco ^afclnc/beren bteerjie tn« e*o.s*. 
.wer gebotten lefcet/rote roirsnS gegen ^ 
@ott fallen fatten, £>ie anfcer in fed)S 
gebotte/rcag «)irt)nferm ned)fren (rf)ut 
Dig feints & Mau.22. 

2BaS crfo:6err fcer £en im erffen @e* 
bot? 

Sag id) bet) uerlierung meiner feelen c *^&r*. 
fjeil t>nfc fettgfeir alle abgottcreqc/ jau^ ^.id. 
berey / aberglaubtfcfye fegen <J / anrufc Deu/.i*. 
fung Der ^eittgen oberanbererSreatu** ^a*.*. 
^ene/meiDent>nb flief)en fol/wtD Denei* 4f**»- 
nigen roarcn @ott recbt erfenncn/7 jm/ ^a».i7. 

e alletn 



[In the Reprint of the First Edition Folio 64 is repeated] 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



64 

bor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his 
maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, 
nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. 

Question 93. 

How are these commandments di- 
vided? 

Answer. 

Into two tables : the first of which 
teaches us, in four commandments, what 
duties we owe to God; the second, in 
six, what duties we owe to our neigh- 
bor. 

Question 94. 

What does God require in the first 
commandment? 

Answer. 

That, on peril of my soul's salvation, 
I avoid and flee all idolatry, sorcery, en- 
chantments, invocation of saints or of 
other creatures ; and that I rightly ac- 
knowledge the only true God, trust in 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



a lere.17. 65- 

b i.Pet.3. a (f e ( n vtttxamna/ in oiler bemitf b twb 
c Hebr.w. ge&ultc/t>on jm adein alleS gutS geroar 
co/o/.i. ten^/t)n \n ttonganfcem lyerijen (ieben / 
furcf)tcn »n& eb:en e; a(fo Dag id) ebe al* 
l.cor. 10. [ e creaturen ubergebfc/ ben in bem gering 
pa,7.2. fl cn f e ( nen rDttlcn tf)ue. 

d Deut.6. ^ 

p/w.111. 2Ba§ iff 2(bg6rrerct}? 

Matt. 10. ^nffatbeSeinigcnwarenSotteS/ber 
^.5. ^ ln (einem rcort bat offenbaret / 
«? 3f a «.4. & er ne b en fcemfefbige etrcaS anberff bid) 
^.5. ^n ober fyaben / i>araujf ber menfci) fein 

l.Par.10. r», 

oa^a.^. 2Ga* mil (Sott im anbern ©ebot? 

I. van. . j^ a g ^ Q ofr - n f e { ncm )t)e g ^ cr 5|( ? 

~'I 0 T' 6 'btng/t\od)auft jrgenb eine anbere ireu 
fe/benn er in feinem won befof)(en f)at / 
* serefaen folIen.A 

»om.i. ©of man ben gar fein bilbmijj madje ? 

Aet.17. h J.Sam. 15. Dev.. 12. &0tt 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



65 

Him alone, with all humility and pa- 
tience expect all good from Him only, 
and love, fear and honor Him with my 
whole heart; so as rather to renounce 
all creatures than do the least thing 
against His will. 

Question 95. 
What is idolatry ? 

Answer. 

It is instead of the one true God who 
has revealed Himself in His word, or 
along with the same, to conceive or have 
something else on which to place our 
trust. 

Question 96. 
What does God require in the second 
commandment? 

Answer. 

That we in nowise make any image 
of God, nor worship Him in any other 
way than He has commanded in His 
word. 

Question 97. 
Must we then not make any image at 
all? 



3 I2 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

66. 

Slntnwt, 

@ott fan unb fot femes wegeS abge* 
bilker rcerben : Die Sreaturen aber/ ob fie 
fcfjon mogen abgebilbet roerben / fo i>er 
beut bod) @ott' berfelbigen bil&nug ju a £xo 25 
macfyen vnb ju f)aben / baj? man fie t>er a y** w ' 
ef>:e ober jm tamtt biene. a D "" tJ 

SDWgen aber nid)t Die bilber al^ ber 
letjen bucket / in ben ^trcben gebulbet 
roerben ? 

2Jntn>i»t 

9Jein/benn n>ir nit follen rceifer fern & j«re.ia. 
bcnn @ott / roeldjer feine Sf):tflenf)eit Hatac.2 
mtburcf) jhmimc gofeep &/fonber burd)c *.p«u. 
bie lebenbtge p:ebig feineS roon£ mil 2.zv».«. 
t>nbem>iefen fyaben.c 

2Ba6 roil bag butt ©ebot ? 

£)a£ tvtr mct)t allein rriit fIuri)en<*/o*« z.Mtf/.i* 
bermtt falfcbem at)De : fonberaucfymit/ 
wintitigem fdjrcere / ben nfcme @otte$ 
e ij nid)t 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



66 

Answer. 

God may not and cannot be imaged 
in any way; as for creatures, though 
they may indeed be imaged, yet God 
forbids the making or keeping any like- 
ness of them, either to worship them, or 
by them to serve Himself. 

Question 98. 
But may not pictures be tolerated in 
churches as books for the laity ? 

Answer. 

No: for we should not be wiser than 
God, who will not have His people 
taught by dumb idols, but by the lively 
preaching of His word. 

Question 99. 
What is required in the third com- 
mandment? 

Answer. 

That we must not by cursing, or by 
false swearing, nor yet by unnecessary 
oaths, profane or abuse the name of God ; 



a 

b Matt.10. 
c l.Tim.2. 
d Bom. 2. 

l.Tim.6. 

Colojf.3. 



314 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

67. 

m&jt leffern ober mi$biaud)tn / nod) 
*>n$ mit unferm jfilfcfyroeigen jonb jufe* 
fyen folcfyer fd)recflirf)en funben ttyil* 
fyaffttg mad)en> 23nb in fumma / bag 
. u ir>tr ben fyeiligen namen @otte6 anberj! 
md)t/ benn mit fo:d)t tmb e^erbietung 
geb:aud)en */ auff bag er Don t>n6 red)t 
befent ^/ angeruffen c/ *>nb in all rot* 
fern woiten tmb trercfen ^ / $ep:iefen 
roerbe. 

Stag. 

Sfi benn mit fctweren t>nb ffuajen 
@otte§ namen lefrern / fo ein fd)roere 
funbe/ bag @ott aud) t>ber bie gurnet / 
bte /foutel an jnen ijt/btcfclbc nid)t fyelf 
fen roefcen tmb t>erbtetcn.? 

3a fretylid) e / Senn fcine funbe grofc 
feriff/ nod) @ott fyeffttger erjurnet / ben 
lefterung feineS namenS / ©arumb er 
fie and) mit bem tobt jufiraffen befof)* 

3Jlag man aber aud) ©ottfelig bet> 

bem 



e Leuii.i 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



67 

nor even by our silence and connivance 
be partakers of these horrible sins in 
others ; and in sum, that we use the holy 
name of God no otherwise than with 
fear and reverence, so that He may be 
rightly confessed and worshipped by us, 
and be glorified in all our words and 
works. 

Question ioo. 

Is then the profaning of God's name, 
by swearing and cursing, so grievous a 
sin, that His wrath is kindled against 
those also zvho seek not, as much as in 
them Iks, to hinder and forbid the same? 

Answer. 

Yes truly: for no sin is greater, or 
more provoking to God, than the pro- 
faning of His name. Wherefore He 
even commanded it to be punished with 
death. 

Question ioi. 
But may we not swear by the name of 



3 i6 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



68. 

bem 9?amen @otte£ etnen 2(t)b fctyroe* 
ren? 

3 a- 2Senn e£ bte Dberfett t>on jren 
snbertfjanen / ober fonff bie notlj erfo:* 
bert / trerce tmb ii3arf)ett ju Ootte^ efo 
t>nb beg necfyjfen f^ett barburd) juerfyal* 
ten unb jufurbern. £)enn folcfyeS at)b* 



a Deut.6. 
EJai.48. 
Heh.6. 
h Gen.21. 
& 31. 



fdjwere ifl in @ottegit>o:t gegrunbeu 

t>nb berfjalben son ben ^etU'gen im ak ^.'p. 

ten t>nb neroen £etfament recfyt gefoau* ^sam.24. 

d)et rcoiben. & 2 .&m.s. 

9)iag man auct) bet) ben £ei(igen **m.i. 

ober anbern Greaturen' at)b fdjrceren? *.c«r.i. 

Qlntnwt. 

0?cin : £)enn ein rectytmeffiger at)b 
ift etn anruffurig@otte6 / ba§ er af6 ber 
einig berfcfunbtger / ber irarfeett geua* 
nu§ tootle geben / unb mtd) ffrajfen / fo c 2(C ' 0 r.j. 
id) falfcb fcl)tr>ere c / rcelcfye ef)j ben fei^ ^.5. 

ner creaturen geburet.^ iacoh.o. 

28a£ roil @ott in bem merbtegebot? 

e iij @ott 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



68 

God in a religious manner? 

Answer. 

Yes; when the magistrate requires it, 
or it may be needful otherwise, to main- 
tain and promote fidelity and truth, to 
the glory of God and our neighbor's 
good. For such swearing is grounded 
in God's word, and therefore was 
rightly used by the saints in the Old and 
New Testament. 

Question 102. 

May zve swear by the saints, or any 
other creatures? 

Answer. 

No : for a lawful oath is a calling upon 
God, as the only searcher of hearts, to 
bear witness to the truth, and to punish 
me if I swear falsely; which honor is 
due to no creature. 

Question 103. 

What does God require in the fourth 
commandment? 



318 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



69, 

a Tit a. Slntwoit 

* * ampt t>nb fcfyulen erbalren werben a/ »n 
o t 9 ^/ fonfterltdi am feterrag ju b' gemetne 
* , ©otteS Dlcifiig tome 6/ ba$ rootf ©on 

j p/az4o 3 u f ernen c ' fcie ^t'tigc (Sacrament 
& a €8 ' gugeb:aucben d/ym £enen offentlid) 
^ 5 anjuruffen e / t>n bag (SjjnfHuft aimo§ 
c 2 cor 24 jugeben/. 3 um anbern {bag id) alle ta* 
a i cor. 11. 8* WCMitf leben£t>onmeinen bofen roer* 
c i.jvm.2. cfen fet)ere/ben £)enen burd) feme ©eift 
i.cor i4 in wtriwnfen lajTe / r>nD alfo ben emu 
/ i.cor. is. 9^n ©abbatf) in biefem leben anfang. g 

SXBaf rott @ott im funfften ©ebot? 
3(lttiMtL 

a ^/-. ^. ©a§ id) meinem SSater sonb 9)Jut< 
coto/.s. 7 *>nb fllkn bie mir furgefel?et fein / 
Ephef. 5. alle efce / tiebe tmb trewe beroeifen / 
Prou.i. »nb mid) atler guten lef):e»nb jlraff/ 
Exo.2i. mit geburlicfyem gefjo:fam tmberroerf* 
fen h ) t>nb aucfy mit jren geb>ed)en ge* 

bult 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 319 



69 

Answer. 

In the first place: that the ministry 
of the Gospel and schools be maintained ; 
and that I, especially on the day of rest, 
diligently attend church, to learn the 
word of God, to use the Holy Sacra- 
ments, to call publicly upon the Lord, 
and to give Christian alms. In the sec- 
ond place: that all the days of my life 
I rest from my evil works, allow the 
Lord to work in me by His Spirit, and 
thus begin in this life the everlasting 
Sabbath. 

Question 104. 

What does God require in the fifth 
commandment f 

Answer. 

That I show all honor, love and faith- 
fulness to my father and mother, and 
to all in authority over me; submit my- 
self with due obedience to all their good 
instruction and correction ; and also bear 
patiently with their infirmities: since it 



320 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

70 

butt baben foU/bieroetl tmS ©ott burd) « 23. 
jre banb regieren roil. 6 Gen.s. 

2BaS it)t(@ort in Dem fed)fien gebot? 

2tntitwt 

£)a§ id) meinen ned)ften metier mtt 
gebancfen/ nod) nut rco:ten ober geber* 
Den / t>tet rcemger mtt ber that / Durtf) 
rnicl) fetbft ober anDere fcfymeben / baf* c 
fcn/betetbigen/ober tobtenc:fonberak 5 9 
!e rarfjgtrtgfeit abtegen ^ / aucb mi&i d * n he ' 
fetbft ntt befebebigen / ober mutanlltg in ^* i2 ' 
gefab: begeben fot ©arumb aucb bie ^ 5 
Oberfett/bem tobfd)Iaq juroeren/ ba£ e SomJ5 " 
<*cfm>ert tregt. aoto/2 ; 

Stag, 5^.3. 

5ftebet bod) btfl qebot alletn Don tobte ? mtt. 4. 

G§ mil t>n§ aber @ott burd) Derbies 
tung beg £obtfd)lagg Iet):en / ba§ cr/ «o»j. 
bie rcur£el beg tobtfebfagg / ate neib//* 1.10**2. 
t>a$g/ iomh/ ^a*girigfctf/^affet/t)n* Iac2 - 
bag fofcfyeg alleg fur im eta beimltdjer Gai.5. 
tobrfeblag fct>e* * »" 
c itt) 3(1* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
70 

is God's will to govern us by their hand. 
Question 105. 
What docs God require in the sixth 
commandment? 

Answer. 

That I neither in thought, nor in word 
or look, much less in deed, revile, hate, 
insult or kill my neighbor, whether by 
myself or by another; but lay aside all 
desire of revenge : moreover, that I harm 
not myself, nor wilfully run into any 
danger. Wherefore also, to restrain 
murder, the magistrate is armed with 
the sword. 

Question 106. 
But this commandment speaks only 
of killing? 

Answer. 

In forbidding this, however, God 
means to teach us that He abhors the 
root of murder, namely envy, hatred, an- 
ger and desire of revenge; and that all 
these are in His sight hidden murder. 



21 



322 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

71. 

3»ff6 aber bamtt gnug / bag rcir t>m 
fern ned)f?en/u)ie gemclt ' nit tobten? 

2lnt»H»t. 

9Mn. Senn inbem ©ott netb / bag 
a ifaM. 22-t>nD jom fcerbampt : mil er t>on t>n6 f)a 
* 7 - ben/ bag rotr unfern necfyften Iteben a(S 
b E P he f- 4 -w\i felbffa/ gcgen jm gebutt/friebe& / 

* Matt. 5. fanfftmur^ c / barmberfctgfeit ^ t>nb 

freunDltgfette erjetgen /fetnen fcfyaben/ 

* ^ a "- 5 - foutel Mi6 mogltcf) / abrccnben / / tmb 
e Bom.i2. aucfo wfern feinben guts tf)un.g 

iwi2. 2Bag roil bag ftebenbe @ebot ? 

Stntwwt. 

©a§ alle Dnfeufd)eit t>on ©ott »cr* 
a Deu/.ia. malebcictfen A / t>nb bag n)tr barumb 
i iudaei. j r fcon berl?en feint) fein */ t>nb feufd) 

* '-a**/- 4 - t>nb jucbtig leben fallen j / eg fet) im bet* 
i ^5 i3. j l( , en e ()eftanbt ober aujjerbalb DcffeU 

SSerbeut ©ott in Dteiem gebot md)t6 

met)> 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



71 

Question 107. 

Is it then enough that we do not kill 
our neighbor in any such way? 

Answer. 

No: for in condemning envy, hatred 
and anger, God requires us to love our 
neighbor as ourselves, to show patience, 
peace, meekness, mercy and kindness 
towards him, and, so far as we have 
power, to prevent his hurt; also to do 
good even unto our enemies. 

Question 108. 
What does the seventh commandment 
teach list 

Answer. 

That all unchastity is accursed of God ; 
and that we should therefore loathe it 
from the heart, and live chastely and 
modestly whether in holy wedlock or 
single life. 

Question 109. 
Does God in this commandment for- 



4 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

72. 

md): bernt ebefoucb tmb bergtetdjen 
fcfyanben ? 

©teroeil bet)bet>nfet tetbt>nb feel tern* 
pel beg fjeiltgen (Seiftg fetn / fo roil er / 
bag n>ir fie betjbe faubertmb Ijetlig be** E P k*/j>. 
roaten. SSerbeut betljalbe alle tmfeufcfye t-o^e. 
tf»aten / geberben / roort a / gebantfen / b Mate. 5. 
tuft t>nb wag ben menfeben bargu rei*c ^/.5. 
fcen mag. c f.cor.15. 

Stag, 

2Bag t>erbeut @ott im adjren @e* 
bot? 

@rt)erbeut mcfytallein ben WebflaU l. Cor. 6. 
t>nb rauberet) e / roelcfye bte Dberfett* / cor.5. 
fhrafft : fonbern@ott nennet aucl) bteb* 
ftalalfe bofe ftucf tmb anfebfege / bamit 
rotr unferg necfyften gut gebencfen an 
x*nZ gubwtgen / eg fet) mit geroalt ober/ Lue - 3 - 
febem beg recfyteng /: afg t>nred)tem ge* ^Ae/i. 
it)tct)t^r / ©tin / mag A / roafae / mim$ / 9 p™.u ■ 
tmidjer/oberburcb etmgeg tmttel/ bag* 
wn @ott tterbotten ift : barju au# Deu ** 5 - 

t t> ten 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



72 

bid nothing more than adultery, and such 
like gross sins? 

Answer. 

Since our body and soul are both 
temples of the Holy 84 Ghost, it is His 8 * Spirit 
will that we keep both pure and holy; 
for which reason He forbids all unchaste 
actions, gestures, words, thoughts, de- 
sires, and whatever may entice thereto. 

Question i io. 

What does God forbid in the eighth 
commandment? 

Answer. 

Not only such theft and robbery as 
are punished by the magistrate ; but God 
views as theft also all wicked tricks and 
devices, whereby we seek to draw to 
ourselves our neighbor's goods, whether 
by force or with show of right, such as 
unjust weights, ells, measures, wares, 
coins, usury, or any other means forbid- 
den of God; so moreover all covetous- 



326 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

73. 

a t.ccr. e. fen geifc a i ttnt) unnufce tterfdjroenbtmg 
b Prou.5. feiner gaben. b 

5£BaS gebeut biraber©ott in biefem 
@ebot? 

3tntttwt- 

©ag id) meineS necfyften nu$/ wo id) 
fan snb mag / furbere / gegen jm alfo 
t>anble/tt>ie id) trolre / bag man mit mir 
t Man. 7. banbfete c / t>n tretDlid) arbeite / auff bag 
^ jgpAe/. 4. id) bem burfftige in feiner not!) Ijelffen 
mog. 

2Ba3 roil bag neunb @ebot? 

5tntnwt 

Sag id) roiber niemanb falfcbejeug* 
/• p/ai.i5. nuggebee/niemanbfeinewoitperfere// 
g Rom.i. fein affterreber t>nb lefterer feie g/ 9?ie* 
A Matt.7. manb tmuerfj&t / t>n teid)tlid) tterbam 
men fjetffefc : fonber atlerlet) liegen tmb 

* /oan. rrtege/ al^ eigene roercf beg £euf elS t7 bet) 

* Pr 0M .i2. fcbrcerem ©otteSjom t>ermeibe^/in ge 

rid)t§ wib alien anbern (janbtungen bie 
roarfjeit liebe/ auffricbrig fage snb befen 

ne// 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



73 

ness, and all useless waste of His gifts. 
Question hi. 
But what does God require of thee in 
this commandment? 

Answer. 

That I further my neighbor's good, 
where I can and may; deal with him as 
I would have others deal with me ; and 
labor faithfully, that I may be able to 
help the poor in their need. 

Question 112. 
What is required in the ninth com- 
mandment? 

Answer. 

That I bear false witness against no 
one; wrest no one's words; be no back- 
biter, or slanderer; join in condemning 
no one unheard and rashly: but that I 
avoid, on pain of God's heavy wrath, all 
lying and deceit, as being the proper 
works of the Devil; in matters of judg- 
ment and justice and in all other affairs, 
love, honestly speak and confess the 



I THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

74 

ne//aud) metneg necfyften efae tmb' i<k*4i 

glimpff nad) metnem sermtfgen rerte 

tmb furbere.* a ,Pe <- 4 - 

2Bag roil bag jefyenb ©ebot ? 

Slntwoit 

©a£i aud) bie geringffe (ufiob'geban 
cfen roiber jrgenb em aebot@otteg / in 
tmfer (jerfc mmmermel)! fomen / fonber 
n>tr fur t>nb fur t>on ganfcem fjerfcen aU 
fer funbefeinb fein/t>n& tufi ju oHer ge* 
recfytigf eit fjaben fallen, & b Rom.7. 

Stag. 

$6nnen aber bie ju @ott beferet fmb / 
folcbe gebot sotf 6mlid) ^alten ? 

Jftein : fonbern eg fjaben aud) bie aU 
lejfyetltgjfen / fo lang fte in biefem U* 
ben (inb/ nur einen gerinqen anfange 1. ioan.i. 
biefeg gebo:famg c : bocb alfo / bag fie 
nift ernflltd)cm furfafc nid)t allein nacfe Bcd.7. 
etUdjen / fonber nad) alien gebotten @ot d Rom.7. 
teg anfangen julebeh. d /oca 

2Bar* 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



74 

truth ; and, so far as I can, defend and 
promote my neighbor's good name. 

Question 113. 

What is required in the tenth com- 
mandment? 

Answer. 

That not even the least inclination or 
thought against any of God's command- 
ments ever enter into our heart; but 
that, with our whole heart, we continu- 
ally hate all sin, and take pleasure in 
all righteousness. 

Question 114. 

Can those zvho are converted to God 
keep these commandments perfectly? 

Answer. 

No: but even the holiest men, while 
in this life, have only a small beginning 
of this obedience; yet so, that with ear- 
nest purpose they begin to live, not only 
according to some, but according to all 
the commandments of God. 



3 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

75 

2Barumb left tm8 benn @ott affo 
fcfjarff bie jcfyen @ebot p:ebigen / mil 
fie in biefem feben niemanb fyalten fan ? 

2lntwo2t 

@rfHtd>auff b$ roir tmfer ganfceS lebe 
lang t>nfer funblicfye art ie (enger jemef): 
a i.ioh.i. erfennen a / tmb foutet beffa begtriger 
p/a/.32. ttergebung ber fiinben tmb gerectytigfeit 
5 i?om.7. in gt):t(io fud)e& . ©arnad) bag rott one 
untedag t>nS beffetfien/t>nb @ott bit* 
ten ttmb bie gnabe beg beiligen @eiflf§ / 
bag rcir je lenger je met): 311 bem eben* 
bilb OotteS emewert roerben/ big roir 
c i.cor.9. j)ag jiel ber ttolfommenljeu nact) biefem 
pa*v.3. feben erreiotjen. c 

$om ©efiet 

SGBarumb iff ben Stjritfen bag gebet 
n6tig? 

Stntwmfc 

Sarumb ba$ eg baS furnembjie tfticf 

ber 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



75 

Question 115. 

Why then doth God so strictly enjoin 
upon us the ten commandments, since in 
this life no one can keep them? 

Answer. 

First, that all our life long we may 
learn more and more to know our sin- 
ful nature, and so the more earnestly 
seek forgiveness of sins and righteous- 
ness in Christ; secondly, that we may 
continually strive, and beg from God the 
grace of the Holy 85 Ghost, so as to be- 85 s P irit 
come more and more changed into the 
image of God, till we attain finally to 
full perfection after this life. 

OF PRAYER. 

Question 116. 

Why is Prayer necessary for Chris- 
tians? 

Answer. 

Because it is the chief part of the 



2 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

76 

ber bancfbarf eit tji / roelcfye @ott von 

mi erfwbert a / 93nb bag @ott feme « p/«*.5a 

gnabe tmb Ijetltgen @eijf allein bcnen 

rail geben / bie jn mit Ijerfelicbem feufif* 5 jua«.2. 

gen o&ne ttnberlag barumb bttten/t>n& 

\m bafur bancfen.* jfa«.f3. 

SGBaS gefyihet ju einem foldjen aebet 
ba§ @ott gefalle./ t>nb t>on Jm er^6:et 
tberbe? 

(SrfHid) bag iptr alletn ben etntcjen e IoanA . 
maren @ott/ ber fid) *>ng in feinem roort d Bom.8. 
fyat offenbaret c / »mb alleg bag er t>ng 
befot)len Ijat/ t>on fyerfcen anruffen 2.Pa.20. 
3um anbern bag roir tmfere notfy e wib / ?/a«. 
efenb recfyt grunbttcf) erfennen / t>n£ fur b/*m$. 
bem angefid)t feiner9ttaiefiet/gu bemu p/om 
f tgen. 3um bitten / bag roir biefen fejten g Bom.lO. 
grunbfyaben g/ bag er tmfer gebeb / t>n* iad. 
angefefyen bag roirg twroirbig fetnb / n ioan.u. 
boa) t>mb be§ £enn £l)#i rotllen ge* d™.9. 
migltd) roolfe er!)6:en A/roie er tmg in few 7. 
nem n>o:t t>erbetflTen Ijat i p/aius. 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



76 

thankfulness which God requires of us ; 
and because God will give His grace and 
Holy Spirit only to such, as earnestly 
and without ceasing beg them from Him, 
and render thanks unto Him for them. 

Question 117. 

What belongs to such prayer, as God 
is pleased with and zvill hear? 

Answer. 

First, that from the heart we call only 
upon the one true God, who has revealed 
Himself to us in His word, for all that 
He has commanded us to ask of Him; 
secondly, that we thoroughly know our 
need and misery, so as to humble our- 
selves before the face of His Divine 
Majesty; thirdly, that we be firmly as- 
sured, that notwithstanding our un- 
worthiness He will, for the sake of 
Christ our Lord, certainly hear our 
prayer, as He has promised us in His 
word. 



334 TH E HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

77. 

$tag. 

2B(i$ bat enS @ott befot)ten »on jm 
gu bitten? 

a r«eo&j. 2(Ueget(Tli(fte»n6teibltcbenoturffta/ 
afa«.e. rceld)e &er ^©^^ GbnftuS beqn'ffen 
f>at in bem ©ebet/ rcetcbeS er »n$ felbft 
gelebret. 

28te lautet baficlbe? 
9(ntnwt. 

s ucu.6. $nfer j Q3atet £>cr t>u fcift in 
£»c.«. ^j me j n> @ £ ^eilt0et nwbe i?cin 
&ame. £>ein Oieid) fome. £>ein 
nul gef#d)e / auff etben n?ic 
im fyimmel QSnfer teglid) hot) 
git) tonS l)eut. 9Snt) t>ergit> tm$ 
tmfer fdmlt / at$ nrir ttergekn 
tonfern ftfmlbigern. 9iit einfure 
»n$ in toerfutfmng / fonber erlfc 
fe »n$ bom Wfen. 2>enn oein ift 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



77 

Question 118. 

What has God commanded us to ask 
of Him? 

Answer. 

All things necessary for soul and 
body, which Christ our Lord has com- 
prised in the prayer taught us by Him- 
self. 

Question 119. 
What is the Lord's Prayer ? 

Answer. 

Our Father who art in heaven Hal- 
lowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom 
come. Thy will be done in earth, as it 
is in heaven. Give us this day our daily 
bread. And forgive us our debts, as 
we forgive our debtors. And lead us not 
into temptation; but deliver us from 
86 evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and Mtheevil 



336 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

78 

bag reicfy/ tont> l)te frafft/ ton l>ie 
^enligfcit in eurigfeit/ 3Imen* 

SBarumb bat wi3 Sfmfhig befoblen 
@otr alfo anjureben / 93nfer QSatcr? 

Sag er g(eid) tm anfang snferS gebetS 
in t>n6 erroecfe Die ftnblicfye furd)t t>nb 
juuerfid)t gegen @ott/ roeldje ber grunt) 
infers gebetS fol fan : nemltrf)/bag (Sott 
ttnfer 33ater Durcf) Gfctftum rco:ben 
feij/ t>nt) rootle t>n£ t>tet roemger serfa* 
gen /roarumb rotr jn tmgtaub'en bitten / 
benn Dnfere SSdter \>n6 jrbtfcfye Ding 
abfdjlagen. a 6 

2Barumb rotrb bmgugetfjan / 25 Ct 

im t>ift in l)tmmeln? 

Shtff bag toil &on ber fjtmltfdjen 



Matt. 7. 
Liic.ll. 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 
78 

the power, and the glory, for ever. 
Amen. 

Question 120. 

Why has Christ commanded as to ad- 
dress God thus: Our Father? 

Answer. 

To awaken in us, at the very begin- 
ning of our prayer, that filial reverence 
and trust toward God, which are to be 
the ground of our prayer; namely, that 
God has become our Father through 
Christ, and will much less deny us what 
we ask of Him in faith, than our 87 pa-* 7 Others 
rents refuse us earthly things. 

Question 121. 

Why is it added: Who art in 
Heaven ? 

Answer. 

That we may have no earthly thought 



22 



338 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

Sftaieffet ©otteS m'd)tg ftbtfd) geben* 
a iere.23. cfen a / unb tion fetnet almed)ttgfett 
4cU7. aUe notturfft leibg t>nb bet feelen geroat 

& Bcm.lO. tCtl-b 

2Ba§ t(i bt'e erffe 33itt? 

Slntwoit 
©eljetuget roerfce i?ein name/ 

bag if? / gib »n6 erffltcf) bag roir bid) 
« Ioan.l7. red)t erfennen c/tmb bid) m alien bet* 
Ka«./(?. nen rcercfen / in roefrfien feucfyret beine 
jac.i. allmedjrtgfett/ metfbett / gute / gered)* 
p/w.mtfgfett / barmfyergtgfett tmb roarfjett/ 
d p/w.110. Ijetltgen / rfjiimen snb p>etfen d. <bar* 
Bow. 21. nad) aud) bag rotrttnfer ganged feben / 
gebancfen / wort snb rcercf baljm rtd)^ 
ten / bag bein 9?ame umb. t>nfert ttJt'Uen 
e p/^.no.nit gefejiert / fonber get^et t)nb gep:te* 
fenwerbe.e 

2Ba8 iff Me an&erSttt* 

5lntt»o:t 
3ufom t>ein ^ctd) / ba§ $/ 

Sfcgtere 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



79 

of the heavenly majesty of God; and 
may expect from His almighty power all 
things necessary for body and soul. 

Question 122. 
What is the first petition f 

Answer. 

Hallowed be Thy Name. That is: 
Enable us rightly to know Thee, and to 
hallow, magnify and praise Thee in all 
Thy works, in which shine forth Thy 
power, wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy 
and truth; and likewise so to order our 
whole life, in thought, word and work, 
that Thy name may not be blasphemed, 
but honored and praised on our account. 

Question 123. 
What is the second petition? 

Answer. 

Thy kingdom come. That is: So 



340 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

80 

3icgiere x>n& alfo burd) bein rootf x>tib 
geift / bag roir tm§ btr ie lenger te mtfo a uatts. 
tmberroerffen a / erfjalt tmb mefae bet* p/ a ui9. 
ne fircfyen &/ t>nb gerfffoe bie roercf beS & 143. 
£eufFete/t>nb alien geroalt/ ber fid) roi& p/w.52. 
b?r bid) erfyebt/ t>nb alle bofe rfjatfcf)le* & 122. 
ge/ bte nuber bein fyeiligeS won erbad)t c i.i 0 an.z. 
roerben c / big bie Mlfommenfjeit bet* jwis. 
nee SRetcbg fjergu tome**/ bartn bu tt>trjJ<* 40*0. 
alleS in alien fein.e Bom. 8. 

2Ba$ ifi bie bntteSitt? 

9lntt»02t 

2>em 2M Qefcf)el)e auff er* 
ben nrie im fyimmel/ bag iff / m* 

leifye bag nn'r ttnb alle menfcfyen tmferm 
eigenen nullen abfagen// t>nb beinem 
allein gufen rcillen one alleS roiberfp^ Mattie. 
d)en ge!)o:d)en g / bag alfo jeberman Tit . 2 . 
fein ampt tmb beruff fo roillig tmb^ Luc . 22 . 
trewlict) augrict)te£/ tote bie (Sngctmu icw. 
IjtmmeL £ * rfai.103. 

f 2BaS 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



80 

govern us by Thy word and Spirit, that 
we may submit ourselves unto Thee al- 
ways more and more; preserve and in- 
crease Thy 88 Church ; destroy the works 8 " Churches 
of the Devil, every power that exalteth 
itself against Thee, and all wicked de- 
vices formed against Thy holy word, un- 
til the full coming of Thy kingdom, 
wherein Thou shalt be all in all. 



Question 124. 
What is the third petition ? 



Answer. 

Thy wiu, be done in earth as it is 
in heaven. That is : Grant that we and 
all men may renounce our own will, and 
yield ourselves, without gainsaying, to 
Thy will which alone is good; that so 
every one may fulfill his office and call- 
ing, as willingly and truly as the angels 
do in heaven. 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



81. 

2BaStff bfc merbe Sttt? 

@tb fyeut ttnfet tegli$ 

x P/a J(W / ta§ ^ 7 tt)0Ue ^ mig mit aUer 

<fe fk WMicben noturfft uerfcrgen a/ auff tag 
Matt.6. wir bavburcb erfennen / bag bu ber etrn'g 

d Act.u. wfprungaUeg guten fcift & / t>nl> bapone 
^ 27 betnen fegcny rceber t>nfere foigen t>nb 

e j.cor. i5. arbett/ nod) beine gaben t>n£ gebeten c / 
Deut.s. fcnb tmr berbalbe tmfer t» ertratren t>on 
p/w.37. alien Sreaturen abjte&en/ t>n atfem auff 

d p/aW5. btct) fe$en <^ 

* *>• $rag, 

2Ba$ifl WcfunfftcSitt? 

93ergif> tm3 tmfere faulty 
alg aucfy roir fcergefcen tonfern 
fd)ulbtgern/ bag tfi/rooOejtttnSar* 
men funbern alle Dnfere mtfietl)at/aucf) 
ba^ bofe/fo t>n£ nocbjmerbar anfyenget 
umb beg btutg (Stjnjlt nuden nit jure** 

nen e/ 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



81 

Question 125. 
What is the fourth petition ? 

Answer. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 
That is: Be pleased to provide for all 
our bodily need; that we may thereby 
know that Thou are the only fountain 
of all good, and that without Thy bless- 
ing, neither our care and labor, nor Thy 
gifts can profit us; and may therefore 
withdraw our trust from all creatures, 
and place it alone in Thee. 

Question 126. 
What is the fifth petition ? 

Answer. 

And forgive us our debts as we 
forgive our debtors. That is: Be 
pleased, for the sake of Christ's blood, 
not to impute to us, miserable sinners, 
our manifold transgressions, nor the evil 
which still always cleaves to us; as we 



I THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

82. 

nen e/ roie auch rcir big seugnu§ betner« p/aisi. 
gnat) in wi befin&en/ bag t>nferganfcer ^ us. 
furfafj ifty wiferm necbften fcon fjerljen i. Joan.2. 
juuerjeil)en. a a u*u.e. 

2Ba$ iff tie fed)(ie 23itt? 

23nt> fur \>n§ nit in t>crfuc^uc|/ 
fonbern ettofe &n$ »om bofen/ 

Da$ tft / bteruetl rotr au(j »n$ felbft fo 
fdwacb fetn6/ t»a§ voix nit emen augen j 
bftcf befteften fonnenfc/ ttnb barju ttnfe p/ a ^o3. 
reabgefagtefetnb/b'Seufelc/biercelU/c i.Pet.5. 
t>nb Dnfer etgen fleifrf) e/ nit auffboren jsphe/.e. 
x>n$ an$ufed)ten/ fo rcolleft t>n6 erbal*<z 2oan.i5* 
ten unb ftercfen bur* bie frafft betneSe 
beihgen ©eifieS/ auff bj wit men moge Gaiat.s. 
fefte rDifcerftonttbun/ ttn in btefem getfl/ Jfa<#.2& 
licbe ftrett ntrtmben Itgen// big bag w>ir ^.13. 
enthrt) ben fieg ^olfomhct) bebalren^ 9 i.*keff*. 

Stag, 

2Bie befd)teu(r bu big Sebet? 

f ij £>enn 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



82 

also find this witness of Thy grace in 
us, that it is our full purpose heartily 
to forgive our neighbor. 

Question 127. 
What is the sixth petition ? 

Answer. 

And lead us not into temptation; 
BUT DELIVER US FROM evil. That is : 
Since we are so weak in ourselves, that 
we can not stand a moment; while our 
deadly enemies, the Devil, the world and 
our own flesh, assail us without ceasing; 
be pleased to preserve and strengthen 
us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, that 
we may make firm stand against them, 
and not sink in this spiritual war, until 
we come off at last with complete vic- 
tory. 

Question 128. 
How do you close this Prayer f 



346 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

83, 

2lntroo:i 
2>enn kin ift t)a$ 9ieid) / bie 
frafft / tmi> Me Jjenftgfeit in 

Wiflfeit/^ ift/ ©old)§ alleS bitten 
rcir barumb t>on btr / bag bu a(S ttnfer 
$6nig/t>nb alter bing mcd)tig/tm$ak 

<* jwm i e g g Ut g g e b en ^{jj.y ^nbfanfi a I tmb 
2.Pe/.2. ^ a (j- 0 n j^ t lt) j r ; ( on t) er ^ e(n fjetltger 

h ioan.u. name ettug fol gep:iefen roerben* b 

$rag, 

2Ba$ bebeut ba£ njotflem/Stmen? 

Stntomt 

5lmen fyeiff /ba§ fol roar t>nb genng 
fein : benn mein gebet Diet geit>tfier t>on 
©oft erf)6:et ift/ benn irt) in met* 

c 2 Carl mXtl f" Ic 7 b ^ ld) 

2T . w2 folc&eS t>on if)m 

begere, c 



THE TERCENTENARY TRANSLATION 



83 

Answer. 

For Thine; is the kingdom, and the 
power, and the glory, for ever. That 
is: All this we ask of Thee, because as 
our King, having power over all things, 
Thou art both willing and able to give us 
all good; and that thereby not we, but 
Thy holy Name may be glorified for 
ever. 

Question 129. 

What is the meaning of the word: 
Amen? 

Answer. 

Amen means: So shall it truly and 
surely be. For my prayer is much more 
certainly heard of God, than I feel in 
my heart that I desire these things of 
Him. 



348 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



84. 

$cr$eidjm3 bcr fiirnem* 

jien£ert/ nrie t>te o:Dent^ 

lid) im twgefyenben 2a* 
tccfyfmo erfleret 
fein. 

i. 

Suntma beg Mtfc 

cfyen ©efefceg/ 

Sarau§ n)ir enfer funfc »nt> eknit er* 
fennen. 

£>u folt Men ©ott beinen 
£enen toon gan|em l?er§en/ 
toon ganger feeten / toon gem* 
fcem gemutl) ton alien frefften/ 
bijj ifi bag furnemtofte ttnb bag 
grofte gebot. Sag anber aber 
ift bem gteid) : £u foft beinen 
nedjjien liebe ate bitty felbft. 3n 
biefen jwetyen ©eboten tyanget 
f iij bag 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 349 



85 

t>a$ ganfce @efe§ imi> Die tyw 
t>l)eten. 

iCetflucfyt fep icDerman / oet 
nicfyt bteibt in allem Dem / bag 
gefefyrieben ftefyet / in Dem tmd? 
beg @efe§eg / t>a$ er$ tl)ne. 

n. 

2)te SMitfe! tmferS 

(Sfmftficfyen glanfren^/ 
DDcr fumma £>e^ dSaiangeftong 

Stujj Cem rot't lernen »nfer erlofung. 

3$ gtaufe in ®ott Sater/ 
pen 5llmedjttgen / Scfyftpffet 
l)immei$ tmt> t>cr ercen. 

33nt> in Scfum (Styiftum / fei; 
ncn eingeDomen (Son / tmfern 
^enen / bet etnpfangen ift t>on 

pern 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



86. 

bem fceiftgen ©eift/ gefwe aufj 
SDfaria ber Sungfraroen / Qetit^ 
te Dnber Spontio ^ilato / gecreu 
fciget / geftojben tmb begraben/ 
abgeftiegen ju ber $ellen/ am 
bitten tag rotter aufferftan? 
ben iron ben tobten / anffgefa; 
ren gen ^imel / fi£et $u ber recfc 
ten ©otteS / be3 alhnccfjtigen 
33ater3 / Don bannen er fomen 
roirb / p rid)ten Die tebenbigen 
tmb Die tobten. 

3$ gtaub in ben l)ettigen 
©eift / eine twinge allgemeu 
ne &fmftM)c jtircj) / bie ge? 
meinfrijafft ber #eitigen / per; 
gebung ber (Siinben / oufferfte? 
$ ung beg fleifd)eg / tmb ein eroi 
ge3 leben. 

f iiij (Sin? 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



87. 

Gtofofymg bet Ijtiltgen 

Sacrament/ 

©urcb roetdje ber fietltge @eifr »n§ 
biefe erWftmg »er(Tegelt »nb »er{icftert. 

<gto[a$img k§ JjeiU* 

gen Saup. 

@e1)et l)in / »ni> letyet atte 
93Mcfer / imt> tauffct ftc im na* 
men i>e$ SSaterS / ton i>e$ <Son3/ 
*mi> i>e3 Jjeitigen @etfi& 2Ber 
i>a gtautt tmi> getaufft mirW/ 
ber . wirW felig mermen : wer 
after nidjt ataufct / ber miri> t>er 
i>amj)t roerben. 

(£mfa$nng bc§ Ijciligen 

Otten&matS (^riftt. 
SBnfer $®8KR SefuS in fcer 

nadjt 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



88 

nctd)t ba er fcerrljaten warb/ 
nam er bag bmb / bantfet tmb 
b:ad$ ton fp:ad) / 9?emet / effct/ 
bag ift mem leify ber fur cud) ge 
hofym wirb / <§olcf)$ tyut / ju 
meiner gebecfytnujj. Seffelben 
gleidjen aud) ben ^elcfy / nad) 
bem 5tbenbtmot / tmb ffyad): 
2>iefe'r ^eld) ift bag newe £e? 
ftoment in meinem Mut/ foldjg 
t^ut/ fo offt-jrg trincft / §u mei; 
ner gebed)tnu§ : 2>enn fo offi jr 
t>on biefem foob effet / »nb Don 
biefem $etd) trincft / fott jr beg 
$erm toi?t toerfunbigen / bip b§ 

er fompt. 33nb ber fjeitige'-pauluS in 
ber erfien an bie Sojtntfter im 10. cap. 

fiaidjt atfo : 2>er feJcf) ber band* 
fagung / bomit roir bancffage/ 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



89 

ift ct nit bic gemeinfd)afft beg 
Mutg (StjafH ? Sag foobt bag 
nur t>:c^en / ift bog nit bic ge* 
meinf^offt beg leibg <^:ifti? 
benn cin fejob iftg / fo feint) wit 
inel cin left / biewcit xoix atfe 
eineg foobg ttyeityaffttg feinb, 

in. 

Sag <Me$ utor St* 
§m ©ef>ot ©otteg. 

. Slug roetcfoen rctr feme / rote rotr ©ott 
fur folcfje tt>cttf>at fallen in ttnferm gan 
IJen leben bemefbac fern. 

(Bolt rebet aUe btfe mil 

£)a§ erft @ebot. 

9$ tin bcr bcin 
@ott / bcr i# bid) aujj <Sa^ 
ytcntattb / aufj bem 2>ienf$aujj 
gefuret $abe. 



23 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



90 

35u ftfft f cin ember ©fltter fur 
mix Jjapem 

£>a6 anber @et>ot. 

2>u fott i>tr fctn ©ilbnufc 
nod) jrgenbt cin a,let<$nu£ mas 
djen / weber bejj / t>aS often im 
£imet / nod) befj / bag tmben 
auff (Erben / ober bejj / ba£ im 
wafer onber t>cr erben tjt/ 2)u 
foft fte nt$t anfceten/ nod) inert 
bienen / bewt id) ber <$ew bein 
©ott / Un em harder etyueriger 
($ott/i)tT bie miffetl)at berSSd* 
ter $eimfu$t <m ben $inbern 

m3 butt onb oierb glieb/ be 
ten bie mid) ^offen / onb tl)ue 
oarm1)er§iafett on oiel taufen? 
ben bie mid) ttefien / onb meine 
©eoot fatten. 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



91 

£)a§ Dittte @ebot. 

fbtt ben 9lamen beg 6er 
ten t>eine^ ©otteS nidjt mifc 
foauefcen / Senn i?er <£en n>irb 
ben nidjt tmgeftrafft laffen/ t>er 
fetnen nomen mipjauctyt. 

£>aS »ferCe @cbot. 

©ebencf be$ (Safcbatljtagg/ 
bag bu $m Ijeiligeft. <5e$6 tag 
foltu arbeiten / imb attc berne 
tvexd tljun / after am fiebens 
ben tage ift ber (Sabbatlj t>cS 
#enen beineS ©otteS / i)a foft 
bu feme arbeit tyim / nodj bein 
(Son / nod) betne Softer / nod) 
bein $ned)t / nod) peine magfy 
nod) bein 93iel) / nod) » fremb? 
ling ber in beine tfyoien ift. 2)en 
in fed$ tage l)at ber #en Dime! 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



92. 

t>ti erben gcma#t/ ton tog 9Rccr/ 
tmt> alle$ wa$ toinnen if5fc / t>nb 
tfyiete am fibmbe tage/ fcaturo 
fegnete t>cr £err t)en (Satftaty 
tag / tmi> ^eiligte in. 

©a§ funfft ©cbot. 

2)u foft t>ein SSater Mb bei* 
ne SRutter dpen / ouff ba£ bu 
long lefceft im Sanb/ ba$ bir 
bar £err t>cin @ott gift, 

©a$ fed)fi @ebot. 

sm foit nit mtm. 

Stag jtebenb ©ebot. 

2>u foft nit (^efcedjen. 

©a3 ad)t (Sebot. 

$u foXt nit Men. 

£>a8 neunbe ©ebot. 

SDu fott fctn faif# &eirgm$ 
feben Briber beinen ne#ften. 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 



93. 

Sag jeljen&e @eBot 

Did? nit {jctuften fcetneS 
nedjften £<mf? / 8<$ oi$ nit 
Qdujten beineS nedjjien n>eif>$/ 
nod? feincS $ned)ts$ / nod? fci? 
ner 2Rag& / nod? feineg Dd?5 
fat/ nocfyfaneS <§fel$/ nodj afc 
teg bag ban nedjiia $at 

2Belcf)S»nge&3tTtug fetofl aefefcet/ 
»nfer Datttfbarfetr furnemlt'aj i>amtt 
aecjen ©ottjuerjetaen/ »n alle noturfft 
get'bS »nb ber ©eelen son ibm gucrlam 
flen. 

iBnfa SSater t>er t>n fcift in 
Dtmeln. 

©djattfitf wabe oein 01a? 

me. 

$an $eidj torn. 



THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 

94 

£em witt fiefd?efye / ouff er? 
ben nrie im ^immcl 

Unfcr tegtid) t>:ot> gieb tm$ 
tyut. 

23nb toergieb ttnfet fcfmtt/ 
aU wit toergeben bnfern fdjut? 
btgern. 

33nb ffire »n3 md)t in ber? 
fud)ung : fonber erlofe bn3 bom 
itffen. 

2>enn bent ifi ba3 teidj/ bnb 
bic frafft / bnb bic ^crUigfcit in 
eroigfeit / Slmen. 



SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 



I. ENCYCLOPEDIAS: 

Real-Encyklopadie fur protestantische Theologie u. Kirche; 

Herzog, Plitt, und Hauck. Articles: Katechetik, Kate- 

chismus Heidelberger. 
Dritte Auflage; Hauck. Articles: Katechese, Kate- 

chismen und Katechismusunterricht, Katechismen 

Luthers, Katechismus Heidelberger, Katechumenat. 
Die Religion in Geschichte u. Gegenwart, herausgegeben 

von Schiele. Articles: Katechetik, Katechismus. 
New Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia, edited by 

Samuel Macauley Jackson. Articles: Catechumenate, 

Catechesis, Catechisms, Heidelberg Catechism. 
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Hastings. Articles : 

Catechisms, Catechumenate. 
Catholic Encyclopedia. 1907. Article : Catechumen. 
Jewish Encyclopedia. 1902. Article: Catechisms. 
Encyclopedia Britannica. Eleventh Edition. Articles: 

Catechism, Catechumen. 

II. PERIODICALS: 

Reformed Church Review. See Index No., Oct., 1911 
Articles under Catechetical Instruction, Catechisms, 
Catechization, Catechumen, Education, Reformed Church, 
Religion. 

Reformed Church Messenger. Jan. 16, 1902. Article by 

Prof. Wm. J. Hinke. 
Biblical World. Sept., 1900. A Symposium on the Use of 

a Doctrinal Catechism in Sunday-school Instruction. 
Biblical World. Sept., 1912. Christianity and the Hope of 

Social Redemption, Dickey. 



360 



SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Harvard Theological Review. April, 1910. New Forces 
in Religious Education, Holmes; The Theology of 
William Newton Clarke, William Adams Brown. 

III. CATECHISMS AND CONFESSIONS: 

Cohrs, Ferd. Die evangelische Katechismusversuche vOr 

Luthers Enchiridion, 4 Bde. Berlin, 1900-1902. 
Reu, Johann Michael. Quellen zur Geschichte des Kate- 

chismus-Unterrichts. Erster Band: Suddeutsche Kate- 

chismen. Giitersloh, 1904. 
Niemeyer, H. A. Collectio Confessionum. Lipziae, 1840. 
Muller, E. F. Karl. Die Bekenntnissschriften der refor- 

mirten Kirche. Leipzig, 1903. 
Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom. Three vols. 

New York, 1877. 
Jacobs, Henry E. The Book of Concord ; or the Symbolical 

Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Two vols. 

Philadelphia, 1882. 
Curtis, W. A. History of Creeds and Confessions of 

Faith. Edinburgh, 1911. 

Catechism of the Council of Trent. Translated into 
English by the Rev. J. Donovan. New York. 

Lenker, John Nicholas. Translation of Luther's Catecheti- 
cal Writings. Luther on Christian Education. Minne- 
apolis, Minn., 1907. 

Seeberg, Alfred. Der Katechismus der Urchristenheit. 
Leipzig, 1903. 

Hitchcock and Brown. Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. 
New York, 1885. 

Muller, Karl. Symbolik. Erlangen and Leipzig, 1896. 

Achelis, E. Chr. Praktische Theologie. Zwei Bande. Frei- 
burg, I. B., 1890. 

IV. THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM: 

Wolters, Albrecht. Der Heidelberger Katechismus in 
seiner urspriinglichen Gestalt. 1864. 

The Heidelberg Catechism in German, Latin and English, 
with an Introduction by John W. Nevin, D.D. Tercen- 
tenary Edition. New York and Chambersburg, Pa., 1863. 



SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Harbaugh, Henry. The Heidelberg Catechism with Proof- 
Texts and Explanations, as used in the Palatinate. 
Translated from the German. Reading, Pa. 

Hinke, W. J. Early Catechisms of the Reformed Church in 
the United States. Reformed Church Review, Oct., 1908. 

Nevin, John W. History and Genius of the Heidelberg 
Catechism. 1847. 

Tercentennary Monument. In Commemoration of the 
Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism. 1863. A series of historical, biographical, and 
theological articles. 

Gooszen, M. A. De Heidelbergsche Catechismus. Textus 
Receptus met Toelichtende Teksten. Leiden. E. J. Brill. 
1890. 

Lang, A. Der Heidelberger Katechismus and vier ver- 
wandte Katechismen mit einer historischen Einleitung. 
Leipzig, 1907. 

Von Alpen. The History and Literature of the Heidelberg 
Catechism, and of its Introduction into the Netherlands. 
Translated by J. B. Berg. Philadelphia, 1863. 

Dalton, Hermann. Der Heidelberger Katechismus als 
Bekenntniss- und Erbauungsbuch. Wiesbaden and Phila- 
delphia, 1870. 

Smellie, Alexander, The Heidelberg Catechism. London, 
1900. 

Couard, Ludwig. Der Heidelberger Katechismus und sein 
Verhaltniss zum kleinen lutherischen. Giitersloh, 1904. 

Sudhoff, Karl. Theologisches Handbuch zur Auslegung 
des Heidelberger Katechismus. Frankfurt am Main und 
Erlangen, 1862. 

Good, James t. New Light on the Heidelberg Catechism. 
Inaugural Address. 1907. 

HISTORIES RELATING TO THE REFORMED 
CHURCH IN GERMANY AND IN THE UNITED 
STATES : 

Struven, Burcard Gotthelf. Ausfiihrlicher Bericht von 
der Pfaltzischen Kirchen-Historie. Frankfurt, 1721. 

Hausser, Ludwig. Geschichte der rheinischen Pfalz. Zwei 
Bande. Heidelberg, 1845. 



SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Goebel, Max. Geschichte des christlichen Lebens in der 

rheinisch-westphalischen evangelischen Kirche. Drei 

Bande. Coblenz, 1849. 
Seissen, D. Geschichte der Reformation zu Heidelberg. 

Heidelberg, 1846. 
Heppe, Heinrich. Die Einfiihrung der Verbesserungspunkte 

in Hessen von 1604-1610. Kassel, 1849. 
Tschackert, Paul. Die Entstehung der lutherischen und der 

reformirten Kirchenlehre. Gottingen, 1910. 
Kluckhohn, August. Wie ist Kurfiirst Friederick III. von 

der Pfalz Calvinist geworden? 
Lang, August. Johannes Calvin. Leipzig, 1909. 
Moeller, Wilhelm. Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte. Drei 

Bande. Zweite Auflage. Tubingen and Leipzig, 1902. 
Harbaugh, Henry. The Fathers of the German Reformed 

Church, vol. I. Lancaster, 1857. 
The Life of Michael Schlatter. Philadelphia, 1857. 
Dubbs, Joseph Henry. Historic Manual of the Reformed 

Church in the United States. Lancaster, 1885. 
History of the Reformed Church in the United States, 

in Vol. VIII. of American Church History Series. New 

York, 1895. 

The Reformed Church in Pennsylvania. Lancaster, 
1902. 

Good, James L History of the Reformed Church of Ger- 
many. Reading, 1894. 

History of the German Reformed Church in the United 
States, 1725-1792. Reading, 1899. 

. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION— PAMPHLETS & BOOKS: 

Ursinus, Zacharias. Einleitung in den christlichen Re- 
ligions-Unterricht, wie er in dem Heidelberger Kate- 
chismus enthalten ist. Herausgegeben von E. W. Krum- 
macher, 1863. 40 pp. 

Baumgarten, D. O. Neue Bahnen. Tubingen, 1909. 

Nierergall, F. Die evangelische Kirche und ihre Re- 
formen. Leipzig, 1908. 

Praktische Fragen des modernen Christentums, Fiinf 
religions-wissenschaftliche Vortrage. 2te Auflage. Leip- 
zig, 1909. 



SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 



363 



Nevin, John W. The Anxious Bench. Chambersburg, 1843. 
3d. ed., 1893. 

Bush nell, Horace. Christian Nurture. New York, 1876. 

Principles of Religious Education. A course of ten lec- 
tures by different men. New York, 1900. 

Harper, William Rainy. The Trend in Higher Education. 
Chicago, 1905. 

Hodgson, Geraldine. Primitive Christian Education. Edin- 
burgh, 1906. 

Faunce, William. The Educational Ideal in the Ministry. 
New York, 1909. 

Coe, George Albert. Education in Religion and Morals. 
New York, 1904. 

Hall, Thomas C. Social Solutions in the Light of Chris- 
tian Ethics. New York, 1910. 

Rauschenbusch, Walter. Christianity and the Social 
Crisis. New York, 1907. 
Christianizing the Social Order. New York, 1912. 

Kent, Charles Foster. The Great Teachers of Judaism and 
Christianity. New York, 1911. 

Religious Education Association. Proceedings of Conven- 
tions, 1903-1912. 

Journal of Religious Education. 

VII. DOCTRINAL WORKS: 

Clarke, William. An Outline of Christian Theology. 

New York, 1898. 
Brown, William Adams. Christian Theology in Outline. 

New York, 1908. 
Reville, Jean. Modernes Christentum. Translated from 

the French into the German by H. Buck. Tubingen und 

Leipzig, 1904. 

Hall, Thomas C. History of Ethics Within Organized 
Christianity. New York, 1910. 

Eucken, Rudolph. The Problem of Human Life. Trans- 
lated from the German by Williston S. Hough and W. R. 
Boyce Gibson. New York, 1912. 



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